What We Fight For
by Saria Forest14
Summary: The reasons and wants in life are always simple.
1. Introduction

**Author's Note: **So, this is a new concept for me. Though I'd much rather write something fluffy and cute (Being the girl that I am^.^) This angst theme of love and loss just seemed to click somewhere I don't usually tap into. So, here we are!

I'm a relatively new Inuyasha fan, and don't know the Japanese terms for everything since I watched the anime before I started reading the manga. (It's one of the only anime that's actually better than its novel counterpart!) So please go easy on me. I do know Kagome's eyes were blue in the manga, but again, we're going by TV show terms here. So, this plot begins sometime in-between episodes 159 and the end of the original anime. Enjoy!

**[Date Edited: July 9****th**** 2011]**

_**~(+)~**_

What We Fight For

=Introduction=

His heart stopped. Every muscle in his body tensed, preventing him from moving. The horrors of his imagination seemed to be coming to life as he watched the scene unfold in a flurry of colors and noises his mind could no longer decipher. For that split second of chance he had allowed- that weakness, Inuyasha realized it had been a crucial mistake.

The shrill cry of pain coming from Kagome's mouth sent the surrounding forest into a fearful silence. Her eyes were closed shut in pain, her weak human body convulsing and trembling as complete darkness seemed to overtake her very being. She couldn't speak! She couldn't move without screaming from the shock! What was happening? For the first time in months, Kagome was truly afraid. _'Inuyasha!'_

"KAGOME!" Inuyasha heard himself shout in desperation, dashing with impossible speed to reach out for her, but as he got close enough to touch Kagome's shaking form a bright light shot from within the girl's body, creating a powerful barrier that blocked everything from coming too close. The hanyou cried out as his body was zapped with holy energy and he was thrown to the ground, his clothes smoking in bright pink clouds. "No!" He snarled, charging for the barrier again. He clawed and slashed at it, his hands turned red and numb from the pain of having them nearly fried off, only stopping when Naraku's echoing laugh stole his attention.

'**You fool! You are helpless to save her, for it is already too late.'**

As if on cue to the half youkai's angering words, another deafening screech came from Kagome's mouth as the blinding pink barrier suddenly began to glow a deep shade of purple and miasma encircled it. Forced to hear Kagome's agonized screams, Inuyasha plastered his ears to his skull, flinching away from the painful noise as it grew ever louder.

This was the aftermath of Naraku's ruthless and merciless mind manipulation. Though it had been for about a couple seconds Kagome had helplessly succumbed to it, opening the door for darkness to creep into her heart where the window had been unlocked. She had questioned and even _doubted_ her resolve as Naraku had put the illusion of Kikyou and Inuyasha before her while Inuyasha had been struggling to save her in reality, though he hadn't been able to find her until now. Naraku had pinned them both in a corner, and before either of them were able to say anything to anyone, everything had gone wrong. So horribly wrong. Now Inuyasha's most trusting companion was practically dying by his own influence. He had to do _whatever_ was necessary to get her back, so he could explain and put all those doubts he knew Naraku was using to rest, himself. He _needed_ to.

"Kagome, snap _out_ of it! You're going to get yourself _killed_!" He finally shouted out into the clouds of poisonous gases.

As if she had actually heard him, Kagome's violent shaking stopped, and her ragged breathing evened out. The dark clouds of miasma now began to dissipate, and the purple colored barrier had vanished moments after. She calmly stat up, and was on her feet in no time. However, the relief that had passed through Inuyasha was quickly shot to bits as she slowly turned to face him. What he saw sent the earth crumbling under his feet, shock, disbelief, and horror, making the world spin round at a blinding pace. Kagome's eyes were screened over in red.

Now consumed in true fear, and realizing there was nothing else left to do, Inuyasha pleaded. "Don't you **dare** let him control you Kagome! Don't you give out on me!"

But again Naraku's taunting laugh echoed through the air as he finally appeared, standing in triumph. "I'm afraid she no longer has a choice" The beast spoke, a truly evil grin revealing his too perfect white teeth, and he soon let out in a deathly chilling tone, "She's mine now."

To Inuyasha, those emotions of uncertainty and dread had never been more real. This was beyond just reality. This was a living breathing nightmare.

**-[]-[]-[]-**

All was silent. The small campfire flickering and crackling before them, a dead tone humming through the still air. No one had any words to say, and no one had any thoughts to share. It was as if all the hope, all the bright light of day, was swallowed up in the vortex of their close friend's betrayal; their faces expressionless so as to make everything bearable.

It had been one week exactly this night. An entire seven days since Kagome was taken from them and her mind fell prey to Naraku's manipulation. No doubt she had been made into another one of his agents, control no longer belonging to her.

Sango wiped a stray tear that had managed to fall from the corner of her watery eyes. They had searched. How long and hard they had searched. Seeking out every village they could ever remember coming across, asking every person they could find walking on the road for sightings or even just rumors as to the where abouts of their friend or foe, but nothing had been gained from it. Absolutely nothing at all.

Miroku noticed his fiancé's tears, and put his arm around her shoulders in silent sympathy. He hated to see her this way, knowing it took a great deal of pain and frustration to make such a strong woman like Sango cry, but he was powerless to ease her worries and fears, he didn't have the answers to their problems either. All he could do was hold her, and hope it offered at least a little comfort.

Shippo watched from his spot in front of the fire across from the couple in his own distress. Kirara lay beside him, her twin tails resting on his lap to pet. Turning his eyes away from Sango, the kitsune's eyes suddenly noticed the abandoned bow and quiver pushed aside on a nearby tree stump, the last they had left of Kagome's belongings besides her backpack. His eyes saddened, and he fought the tears in a nearly constant battle as all the memories of her came back to his thoughts.

Miroku sighed as he felt Sango move one of her hands up to wipe away the remainder of her tears as she too struggled to keep herself together. Kohaku was in a similar situation, the houshi recalled. He was another of the persons who had fallen at the hands of Naraku's mind manipulation and had yet to escape it's after effects. It was no wonder why the taijiya was so greatly hurt. Going through the same emotions of loss must have brought back so many buried emotions for her. Initially it had all been anger (As everyone's emotional reactions had been), but as things began to settle down and quiet, the real and more raw feelings were surfacing.

A low growl erupted through the gloomy stillness, some distant leaves rustling with a certain hanyou's abrupt movement above. "I'm sick of waiting around!" Inuyasha snarled, jumping from the shadows of a tree branch, "While we sit here doing _nothing_, Naraku could be doing kami knows what to Kagome! We need to get out there, and find her!" almost immediately upon reaching the ground, he began to pace with unease.

Turning to study Inuyasha's expression, Miroku saw the truth in those amber depths. He was feeling the exact same thing as everyone else. Of course, he was handling it much differently. From the moment Kagome had been taken, all the hanyou had done was search, and barely anything else. It was rare to find Inuyasha sleeping or even eating in between his rounds. When Miroku and the others bedded down for the night from their own dead end leads, Inuyasha kept on working himself to the point he nearly passed out from exhaustion, dehydration and fatigue. Just one look at him, and it was clear Inuyasha hadn't had a good night's rest in days. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his ears drooped with the lack of energy. Though he was half youkai, even someone as strong as Inuyasha needed to take it easy on himself from time to time.

Miroku knew this was the behavior of a distraught and desperate man, battling to keep his overwhelming emotions at bay, but this method could only work so long. At some point those emotions would be beyond restraint. It wasn't a matter of if; it was a matter of when. "Inuyasha, I understand the urgency, but you've only been here for a short time. You need the rest. If you push yourself too far, you'll be of no use to anyone. Especially Kagome."

Under normal circumstances, Inuyasha would begrudgingly agree with the houshi's sound reasoning, but in his particular state of mind, he didn't really give a damn who said what around here. Miroku clearly didn't realize how serious the situation was. He Sango and Shippo hadn't been there to witness Kagome's very being shatter at the mercy of Naraku's dark influences. Only Inuyasha had seen it. The way Kagome's eyes lost their depth, the way her face went blank as if her soul had completely left her body, and the way Naraku had smiled in complete pride at her fall. Inuyasha alone had to carry the burden of knowing it was his fault. He was the one personally responsible for Kagome's safety, and he had failed to protect her from Naraku not once, but twice now. First when that creepy infant had gotten ahold on Kagome's soul, and now this. How could anyone else possibly understand how badly this needed to be resolved? No one.

Anger rising at this realization, Inuyasha whirled around to face the group, amber eyes aflame with all the emotions he could no longer hide. "Then you don't care about her safety as much as I do! All we've done since Kagome was taken is sit around and think! Right now, we need to get out there and _do _something about this! Searching for her can't wait any longer than it already has!"

Getting a much firmer and more serious expression to his face, Miroku finally stood and walked over to the tree Inuyasha was pacing by, grabbing him by his shoulders. "Listen to me. I'm saying this as a friend. You need to rest. If you spared one second to look at yourself in a mirror you'd realize why I'm so concerned!"

Inuyasha promptly shoved Miroku's hands away, "Don't you preach in my face, houshi. I don't give a damn about how bad I look! It's my life and I know what I'm doing with it!"

Miroku nearly laughed at the stupidity of that statement. "Like hell you do! Inuyasha we're all concerned, and we're all doing everything we can to get Kagome back, but-"

Inuyasha didn't give him time to finish. "Don't give me excuses!" He snapped, "You know you haven't done all you could to find Kagome!"

Miroku's face hardened as his patience began to thin. "What?"

"All you and the others have done is ask around villages for rumors and stories. None of you have actually broke down and actually searched! None of you have busted your backs looking for Kagome like I have!"

Miroku's eyes narrowed, what remained of his sympathy for the run down hanyou all but burned away in the midst of his defensive emotions. "I can understand you're feeling a bit on edge right now, but there is absolutely _no _reason for you to be pointing fingers at any of us! You know full well each and every one here cares about Kagome's well-being! We're doing everything humanly possible to find her and bring her back to us!"

Shippo and Sango watched the heated argument with their own angered expressions. How dare Inuyasha accuse them of such a thing? Was he really so blinded by his desperation he couldn't see the truth? So what if they relied more on word of mouth then physical signs to go by! Neither method was doing them any good right now anyway! Besides that, had he forgotten they had already tried searching for Kagome's spiritual aura as well? If they knew any better, it seemed like Inuyasha just wanted to point the blame on someone other than himself.

Bravely folding his arms, Inuyasha scoffed bitterly. "Doesn't seem that way to me."

That did it; Miroku wasn't going to stand this anymore. "How dare you!" He yelled, "If anyone is truly to blame, it's _you _Inuyasha! You can't possibly deny Kagome's corruption had everything to do with your own actions, or should I say lack of actions! You can't bare the guilt it's causing you, so you push it all wherever it can go." But as the words flew thoughtlessly out of his mouth, the houshi regretted them.

Inuyasha instantly had him by his robes, a deep and threatening growl seething through his tightly clenched teeth, eyes flashing crimson for a brief moment as he slammed Miroku against a tree. He said nothing, and there wasn't really time for it as Sango instantly reacted.

"ENOUGH!" Sango's voice rang out like a church bell, echoing through the sudden silence she had caused. Eyes still red with remaining tears, the slayer marched up to the hanyou with a fire in her eyes, not even the slightest bid afraid. "You put him down, unless you want to get your head chopped clean off!" She hollered, hiraikotsu hovering over her shoulder.

For a moment that seemed to last forever, the group walked along a proverbial tightrope between an all-out brawl and a begrudging truce. The silence was entirely gut wrenching and stood just beyond the unknown. Until finally, Inuyasha tossed Miroku to the ground with a harsh grunt, silently making his way out of the camp afterward while he seethed, completely ignoring all the glares he received along the way.

As the crimson shape of the hanyou's fire rat garb grew steadily farther and farther away, the air seemed oddly calm. As if a major part of the stress had left. Sango exhaled loudly, releasing a thick cloud of air that seemed to take all her strength with it. Nearly tossing her weapon to the ground, her attention instantly went to the very shaken up houshi still lying on the ground. Her eyes filled with worry as she rushed over to his side and knelt down to see if he had been injured in anyway.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

Miroku just nodded. His deep blue eyes seemed to be swimming in his own hidden conflicted feelings. He was angry with Inuyasha at first, but now he was even more angry with himself. How could he have lost his temper so easily? Over something so trivial? He knew what Inuyasha was like in these kinds of situations, especially when it came to Kagome. He should have been more understanding, more…logical. The houshi actually scoffed aloud at that thought. It was ironic how much bigger a situation could become by ignoring that crucial fact. But then again, was human emotion ever that easy to overpower, even for him? A trained houshi, who's duty was to not allow emotion to rule him? Looking back over this entire predicament, Miroku realized such a dramatic argument should have been one of the things he was to expect.

With a last prick of anger, Miroku looked down at his right hand. _'How well Naraku plays his game…' _Even if it was for only a few minutes, the dark hanyou had gotten everyone here to forget who the true enemy was. It certainly wasn't each other. _'I'm going to need to apologize…'_

Sango watched Miroku think to himself. She saw the frustration in his eyes and the 'should have, could have' expression make its way on his face. "I think we're just feeling the tension." She finally spoke, getting the houshi's attention. "Kagome is a dear friend to _all_ of us. We can't help but worry about her. Not just Inuyasha," as she made her point, the taijiya realized how true it was. No one here was truly to blame but Naraku.

"She's right, Miroku. I really miss Kagome too." Shippo put in, his own voice carrying a rather mature sadness, despite everything that had just happened. The houshi nodded again, still not quite sure what to think or say.

At this point, all thought went to Inuyasha. Worry filled their minds as the remainder of the Inu-gang stared into the darkness in which the hanyou had left, his anger clearly not having been spent. There was no telling what chaos could ensue in his particular mind set.

"Shouldn't we go after him?" Sango then voiced, concerned.

Once again being the man of reason, Miroku pondered it over for some time before finally offering a logical answer as he went back to his previous place beside the fire, "I'd advise against it for now. After a fight like that, he needs to blow off some steam and be alone for a while." With a sigh he added "I wouldn't want to make him any angrier then he already is. We can't control him, only help him, and the best way to do that is to leave him alone."

"But what if he _really_ tries to go after Kagome?" Shippo pointed out worriedly, knowing full well how rash and unpredictable the hanyou could be under such emotional strain.

Hiding his feelings of doubt as best he could, Miroku looked back with depth in his eyes. "Then we pray for his safe return."

As uneasy silence settled onto the clearing once again, fire embers rising into the half-moon sky, everyone hesitantly took their places beside Miroku, no doubt following his advice, for it was all anyone could do until the time was right.

**-[]-[]-[]-**

A small rounded mirror shone through the darkness, its light reflecting the earlier described events. Swirling about the blackness below on the wooden flooring was miasma, the deadly poison only breathable by black hearted beings; it was obvious who dwelled here. Soon enough, two crimson orbs revealed themselves, piercing the blackness with an even more frightening tone. No sooner had all made an appearance, an evil, sickening chuckle erupted into the air, shattering the eerie silence with unease to all who heard the unsettling disturbance.

No other being on the face of the earth had the power to cause such fear instilling sights besides the embodiment of darkness himself…Naraku. Eventually, the searing crimson gaze overlooking the clear circular object was not the only thing visible. A pale face came into the dim torchlight, a most sinister expression gracing his features. A look of true amusement.

He had seen the entire dramatic display, and couldn't be more pleased with his results. It was such a shame he hadn't corrupted that miko girl sooner. But only brought him back to current matters, for the process was not yet complete. "Kagura!" His voice rang like a shrill echo in the still air, the thickening poisonous fog seemingly doing nothing to absorb the intensity in its wake.

Soon, the darkness cleared ever so slightly to reveal a second figure, that of the person the shadow figure had called to him. Her defiant eyes aflame with the fire of rebellion. "What is it?" she asked, a hinted whisper of irritation in her tone.

"Bring our newest guest to me, bound," the half-youkai being ordered, his voice suddenly dropping to an illusionary smoothness, as if coaxing the woman to do his bidding.

Of course, Kagura knew better than to fall for his tricks. She would drop dead the moment she ever attempted something too far off from her master Naraku's wishes, he held her life in his palms after all, her heart.

This is mind, Kagura gritted her teeth and forced herself to nod, turning to leave and retrieve the newest arrival. The fact Naraku specifically ordered the prisoner bound meant it was time for the final phase, after an entire week of breaking what remained of her free will. _I was beginning to wonder if he planned on just keeping her hostage after everything was said and done, forever her soul lost. _How ironically poetic, for reasons obvious to the prisoner's past life. But from how things presently seemed, there was to be more action taken with this young mortal woman.

Upon approaching the cell she had been searching for, Kagura's thoughts were put to silence for the time being as she looked to the armored guard positioned right next to the iron bared door; the key loop dangling from his belted hip. Responding to the woman's silent command, knowing whose authority she represented, he quickly took the required key and approached the lock on the nearby door, inserting it in the small hole and turning clockwise until the satisfactory _click_ opened the door.

Without so much as a nod thanks, the sorceress made her way into the pitch black room, a cold, musty, and moldy smell greeting the sorceress upon her entry. It was enough to make her crinkle her nose at. It wasn't a smell, it was a _stench._ "I don't know how anyone besides the mindless could live in here," Kagura remarked in distain, peering into the darkness for said empty minded prisoner.

Finally, the fogs cleared enough to see a shape. That of a woman, or rather, a young woman. Her chocolate toned orbs were lifeless in appearance, no light reflecting through them, her expression completely blank and pale. Adorned in similar garb as the person retrieving her, that of a simple white and crimson kimono, she stood silently in the corner of the room, awaiting her master's orders, or whoever called her.

Kagura knew what the girl's fate was, and though she hardly called herself emotional, it did arouse her curiosity at what Naraku was going to do with their newest hostage. Somehow she knew it would just make things worse once things were put into play, for everyone involved in this elaborate string of events.

_That_ was an understatement.


	2. In Her Memory

=Chapter 1: In Her Memory=

Sometime had now passed, and the crisp mists of the early morning now covered the world in a mystical shroud. The birds began to chirp their happy tunes and the high tree branches glistened with sun kissed dew drops, the air fresh and mildly humid. Though there was no breeze, the air still felt a bit chilly as the sun was just peeking over the tips of the distant mountain tops.

"_Damn_ it!" came a snarl of anger, a well calloused fist jamming into the trunk of an unsuspecting tree. The birds that had been perched there took flight and sped away because of the disturbance, the lush green leaves drifting down to the ground like rain water.

"It's already…daybreak! Where the hell…could he have…taken her?" Inuyasha vented with frustration between each intake of breath. He stared blankly at the ground, attempting to calm himself down, one of his palms opening to lean on the tree he had just nearly knocked over. This was getting ridiculous. Inuyasha felt himself loosing what sanity he'd managed to hold onto all this time, just running around in circles for what seemed like the rest of _eternity_. Wouldn't Naraku have shown himself by now? It'd been a whole freakin' week for crying out loud!

The impatience and desperation was to be expected though, considering it had only been several hours since Inuyasha had left the campsite, and his previous buildup of agitation wasn't quite worn off yet. Deep down, Inuyasha knew he wasn't going to find anything of value in his search while he was so hyped up, but it was better than getting his head bitten off by his so called friends back at camp. He didn't need to be reminded everything was fault; it was something he was completely aware of. Since the incident, all Inuyasha had done was beat himself up about it, and the guilt was just about overwhelming.

He couldn't help replaying those horrific memories in his head almost constantly, and with them came the endless string of questions no one could answer. How could he let such a thing happen to her? Why hadn't he seen it coming? Could he have stopped it if he had? Would she ever forgive him? How long ago had it been, when he had sworn to himself he would never let Kagome suffer as Kikyou had suffered; change as she had? To break such a promise like that...it was darn right shameful. He was a man of his word, of honor, after all (with or without emotional ties).

The hanyou finally picked his head up, turned himself around, and leaned his back against the tree, his sight drifting upward towards the sky. '_Kagome…'_ The memories flashed before his eyes of all the 'moments' they had shared together, all the battles they had fought together, and even all the times he had pissed her off to no end and had nearly gotten 'sat' to hell because of it. It actually made him smile briefly.

Lost in the emotion and nostalgia, Inuyasha began to return to the emptiness he had known as a child; a time he had felt alone and lost in the world. He faintly felt himself slipping away from reality as much darker thoughts crossed his mind, and hope seemed to slowly fade farther and farther away…

A hand that had been resting at the hanyou's side turned into a tight fist. He shut his eyes in a sort of panicked reflex, shutting out those horrible visions. Those nightmares. Closing them off as he had done many times before. "_No_. I _won't_ do it." He scolded to himself fiercely, tightening his now trembling fist with ferocity, nearly drawing blood with how tightly his claws were pressing into the calloused flesh of his palms. "I _won't_ accept it. _Never_!"

How could he? As torturous as life had suddenly become, Inuyasha could not allow himself to grovel over his dark past. He'd nearly lost his mind to such depression countless times before, and _never_ wanted to go to that place again. If he did, those persistent thoughts of inner anguish and pain could turn him against all he'd fought so long and hard for. He'd lose that strength to keep moving on. He'd lose _faith_, and right now, it was all he had left to keep sane.

'_Kagome would want you to be strong.'_ His mind offered in reassurance, the final push to turn away from the worst of his negative thinking. Absentmindedly fidgeting with the rosary around his neck with a clouded expression in his eyes, Inuyasha eventually scoffed at himself. "This is stupid. Who the fuck as time to be thinkin' about shit like this?"

Finally regaining some of his composure, Inuyasha promptly got to his feet and dusted some of the pollen that had landed on the top of his head from sitting still so long. Looking up to see where the sun was positioned, he was surprised to see how long he had been sitting here, actually _thinking_. Growling at the time wasted, he set to run out into the forest again.

Just as he pushed his feet into a fast sprint, Inuyasha quickly glanced back one last time at what he suddenly realized were the Goshinboku's high branches. _'You just wait Naraku. I'm coming to take her back!'_ and with a nod as if he were making a final decision on the matter, Inuyasha turned his head back around to face the road before him, and let his mind go blank.

**-[]-[]-[]-**

"Sango…Sango, its daylight." A voice spoke through the seemingly thick clouds of sleep still holding fast over the youkai slayer's mind. Her heart still heavy with grief and loss, she felt no motivation to move. Sleep was always blissful in a time the world seemed so bitter and dark.

A sigh could be heard as no response met the houshi's beckoning. "Please, Sango. I know this is hard; it has been for all of us. But we need to be strong for Kagome; she needs our strength and faith more now than ever before."

It was true, she realized. Sango needed to have faith, have belief they would someday see the young miko's sweet smile once again, and in the long run, Naraku being defeated. The slayer owed her friend that much, especially after all Kagome had done for her thus far. All the tender love and care Kagome had shown her when Kohaku had caused her grief, the countless times they sat and talked at the hot springs, cheering Sango up with ramblings about men and how dense they could be. (Referring to Inuyasha usually) Yes, she was more than worthy of the taijiya's strength and faith.

So, with a heavy sigh, and much effort, Sango opened her heavy eyes and sat up; looking straight at Miroku as he offered a small smile to comfort her still aching inner wounds. "Thank you, Miroku" She answered simply, her raspy voice from sleep somewhat covering over her genuine gratitude, but the houshi knew without hearing it.

Then, somewhat spur of the moment, she scooted over to rest her head on his shoulder as a small gesture of her sincere gratitude. Surprised at first, especially considering _who_ the embrace was coming from, the houshi tensed at the contact, but that lasted all of about two seconds as one of his arms wrapped warmly and reassuringly around the grieving woman, just happy she was feeling better. "We're all in this together" He said softly into her ear. The tender moment didn't last very long.

"I smell Kagome!" A high pitched voice squeaked excitedly, causing both Sango and Miroku to jolt and split apart in surprise. Turning their heads toward Shippo, they could plainly see the uncertainty hidden in his eyes, and rightly so. The fact Kagome was now out and about Feudal Japan under Naraku's control was bound to cause problems, both personal and in general.

Miroku and Sango rose in unison, all other thoughts evaporating as the air seemed to shift quickly into an aura of dread. Looking to her companion in concern, Sango's expression said she was waiting for Miroku's input on what they should do. "Are you absolutely _sure_, Shippo?" He asked, turning to the panicking kitsune.

He nodded wildly, "My nose isn't as good as Inuyasha's, but I know Kagome's smell anywhere!"

Exhaling loudly, slightly releasing the building tension in his chest, the houshi folded his arms in thought. "That's another thing we need to look out for. Inuyasha."

Sango turned her gaze toward Miroku, and nodded. "I agree, given how long he's been searching for Kagome. He's bound to be even more desperate and rash. We need to make it to her before he does." Her eyes shown even more concern then she was voicing. '_If we don't, who knows what could happen to either of them.'_

Looking between the debating two, Shippo understood this was no time to wait about. "We'd better go find her then!"

"Yes, let's go." Miroku declared. Turning his eyes to the young boy in front of him he knew they'd need his youkai nose, since their usual tracking person was abroad. "Shippo, could you attempt to lead us to Kagome's scent trail? Is your nose strong enough for that?"

Shippo thought it over for a second. He'd never really relied on his nose as strictly as Inuyasha did; he was just a kitsune after all. Having only a fox's sense of smell to replace that much sharper one of dog was a little pressure landing on his tiny shoulders, but if it meant finding Kagome and very possibly saving her from Naraku, there was no other option.

"I'll do my best!" Shippo nodded, confidence and motivation emanating from his demonic aura, as Miroku could sense.

He then nodded in his own understanding, "Good. You sit with Sango on Kirara and lead the way."

No sooner had the plan been finalized Kirara had transformed into her larger form for transportation, and the remainder of the Inu-gang climbed onto her back, the proud kitsune puffing his chest proudly out in front as ordered, sniffing the air wildly for the lost miko's already fading trail.

Eyes widening in discovery, the boy snapped his head to the west, an 'aha!' noise slipping his lips. "That way! She went west!" he declared, pointing his finger in said direction.

"Sango?"

"Right. Kirara, let's go!"

With a roar, the feline youkai rose into the air, obeying her mistress' orders and following the trail as the kitsune pointed it out. However, as they ventured farther and farther though the endless sky, following the persistent trail of Kagome's scent, both Miroku and Sango suddenly realized how familiar the scenery was becoming…and just like that, they knew where she was headed.

"Hurry, Kirara! Faster!" Sango cried, genuine panic rising into her voice.

This wasn't looking good.

Not at all.

_**~(+)~**_

**Author's Note: **I apologize for making this chapter rather short and uneventful, but think of it as something along the lines of 'the calm before the storm' seriously, I'll make up for it next update. This is just setting up the stage for what is to come. Here is a small preview to prove my point:

_"Watch over this confrontation, Kagura. Make sure nothing gets past our advantage" Naraku's sudden orders broke through the woman's thoughts, and irritated as she was about it she nodded her consent and set off. From the way her 'master' had explained the plot, she had a feeling this was going to be one hell of a fight, even for Inuyasha and his friends. If they got past this, it would be a miracle. _

Oh yes, this is going to be fun. Fun indeed.

**[Date Edited: July 9****th**** 2011]**


	3. The Time

**Author's note: **After reading and rereading this chapter, plus discussing the storyline over with a consultant of mine, I went ahead and changed a few things. Nothing extremely different, just some minor details to organize and edit. For those of you who haven't read this chapter, edited or otherwise, please note that it is rated M for its content. Read with caution!

**[Date Edited: July 9th 2011]**

_~(+)~_

=Chapter 2: The Time=

Flashes of dark purple raced across the sky, blurred images mixing together with bright strokes of light. She was hardly visible for an instant before her new claws and much more agile body went again into action.

The terrified screams of helpless villagers and children crying, men calling out for weapons…it all left a faint smirk across Kagome's face, her eyes of brown now glowing with a screen of crimson, revealing for all to see just what she had now become.

It had not been very long since the tainted miko had arrived here in the Goshinboku village, but the moment she had, it was all chaos. Though she had destroyed a few huts and wounded a few people, the helpless villagers were not her main target. No, she was here for an entirely different purpose.

"No, Kagome! Ye must cease this pointless violence!" The pleading and exhaustion could be clearly heard in the fairly aged person's voice, and it hardly took a second for the raven haired girl to recognize who it belonged to.

A clever and rather snide expression graced Kagome's features as a knowing gleam shone through her paled, lightless gaze. "Kaede. It's been awhile," she said, an entertained and casual greeting passing her now red painted lips.

The aged woman, Kaede, knew even attempting to speak to the tainted young girl could mean death…but for some reason, seeing this girl so hateful and full of anger, it only reminded her of her sister Kikyou…and she was determined to spare those remaining among the living the pain of a fallen and lost companion. This had to end. Whether this was the intension of fate, or destiny, there was one thing she knew.

However, there was only one person she knew of who could stop this, one person who had the ability to drag the young maiden from her clouded prison of darkness. And that person was…

***BOOM!***

"Kaede!" The call rang with urgency and alarm, as a blur of silver and crimson rushed to the elderly priestess' side from the remains of a nearby hut wall, now landing protectively between Kagome and the nearly defenseless remainder of the villagers.  
With her good eye, Kaede glanced to her new protector. "Inuyasha, ye have arrived!" she declared with a loud exhale of breath.

"Keh. Not about to have some old hag's blood on my hands 'cuz I didn't get here in time," he answered simply, giving the woman a side glance as he stood in front of her. Although its tone was somewhat sarcastic, it held a large amount of seriousness in its wake. Inuyasha was always the first to take responsibility for those close to him in a dangerous battle, as he should; considering who were indeed on the battle grounds this day besides only she.

Watching as Inuyasha finally came face to face with his lost companion, it was clear he was thoroughly unnerved, as hard as he tried to hide it. The uncertainty in his eyes, the tenseness in his stance and firm masked expression and hard scowl; it all reflected his uncertainty and his conflicting emotions. No words were said as amber and screened over brown clashed in a silent world of their own, a silently vicious war with no blood shed, but loss no less. It was a sight to behold. One could only help but recall a time, fifty years ago, when a similar face off took place; only now its bitterness and hatred were clearly one sided. While the other stood helpless.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Kikyou's _boyfriend_, Inuyasha. Came for a visit have we?" Venom practically dripped from her lips with the vile hatred hissing through her teeth, earning a low growling from the accused.

The aged miko still standing silently from behind the hanyou knew all too well the game being played here. "Ye must be cautious, Inuyasha. Kagome knows not what she is doing; she has no control over her own mind and body!" she warned sternly.

Not turning his fiery embers away from the girl before him, another growl, one much deeper and harsher rang through the air. "I know that already!" he snapped, clawed hands curled tightly into fists. _'But that still doesn't make it any easier…Kagome…how could I let this happen to you?'_

His thoughts were obvious to Kaede as she studied Inuyasha's reserved expression. "Do not let ye emotions cloud thy judgment young hanyou. Kagome is but a puppet in Naraku's grasp. Act wisely," she pressed.

The older woman knew all too well how rash and unpredictable Inuyasha could get under emotional pressure and stress. His bond with Kagome was strong, but with how mercilessly Naraku's played on those sorts of connections; this battle was not to be a simple one. Not for Inuyasha, or anyone else who knew Kagome as she once was.

As the tension and stress continued to stir through the air further still, a laugh seemed to ease its way through such thick walls, unnerving all present. "What's the matter Inuyasha? No words to say? You make it look like you're not happy to see me."

"You're _not _the Kagome _I_ know," Inuyasha managed to seethe out under his breath, body completely tense as he glared back at the tainted miko.

A mock expression of hurt crossed over her evil smirk as she exaggeratedly planted a hand to her chest. "Oh Inuyasha you've hurt my feelings! How could you deny the identity of the one you've come to be so _fond_ of?" There was something odd about how that last part had been said-a bitterness, a sarcastic slap in the face almost. Was she mocking his feelings for her? Did she already know about them? No of course not. Naraku was the one controlling her!

Instantly on the defensive, Inuyasha spoke out of his well hidden desperation, "Shut the hell up, _Naraku_! Quit the _crap_ and let Kagome go!" The demand was fierce indeed, but far from confident. It was taking everything he had to look in Kagome's eyes and expect Naraku's reflection to shine through instead of her own, much less treat her presence as if the half-youkai himself were there.

Swearing colorfully, Inuyasha gripped the hilt of his sword firmly to ease the pressure. Inuyasha most certainly would not fight Kagome if he could help it, and there was no way to reason with her without getting his head cut clean from his shoulders, and sure as hell no way to break the spell over her mind as of yet ether, they had already tried when it had first happened.

_'What do I do now?'_

"Keh, leave it to a totally dense idiot like you not to know what's really going on," the tainted miko scoffed with a roll of her eyes, the sweet tinge of her voice tuned out as a sharp edge cut away at it, her words lashing at the hanyou's heart like a spiked whip.

A barely hidden expression of disbelief struck Inuyasha's face as her harsh words struck his core. What does she mean? Isn't she under Naraku's control? _'There's no way she's speaking of her own free will! No way in hell!'_

The corrupted young woman could have sworn she heard Naraku chuckle in amusement at the half-breed's mental struggling. Then came the new request. The one she'd honestly been sharpening her claws for all night…

'_You know what to do'_

Within the second it registered in her mind, the would-be-priestess lunged forward, a sword sheath now visibly clasped to her side and a miasma engulfed blade flashing from its sealed slumber to cut into the flesh of its victim.

The hanyou would have died instantly from the attack had it not been for his well trained and half-way instinctive reflexes as Inuyasha indeed pulled Tetsusaiga from its own slumber, clashing with Kagome's weapon in a brilliant display of flashing light, blinding all those who dared to watch.

Kagome was stronger than before. _Much_ stronger. In fact, her strength was fearfully rivaling Inuyasha's own! Her grip on her own sword was tight, pushing him backward in the blade to youkai fang collision, inch by inch, his muscles beginning to waver under the great pressure suddenly landing on them. It had been quite some time since anyone had matched his strength on such a level, pushing him to his limit within _seconds_!

Daring to look into her eyes as the pressure began to max out with the pressure; they had gone from blurred brown, to fuming crimson. He could practically smell the desire to spill his blood under her breath, as she snarled and sneered at him between the crossings of their weapons. As things were reaching a climax, she finally overcame his strength and shoved him onto his back, all the force of the previously equal face off bouncing back on him to his disadvantage.

'_This is bad…I can't fight back or I'll hurt her! But if I don't get Kagome to stop somehow, I'm the one whose head gets chopped off!'_ Inuyasha thought frantically as he quickly rose to his feet, just barely missing another swipe from Kagome's new blade as he jumped out of the way the instant he was able to stand up.

Upon doing so, and as the blade slashed at open air and ground where he had once been only moments before, Inuyasha could feel the dark energy pulsing behind him in waves from the strike. It was as if all of Naraku's own power was being channeled into that sword!

Within the moment the hanyou's bare feet met the rough ground beneath him, Kagome's instinctive reflexes were already zeroing in on him, predicting where he'd land, and so, before he could dodge the oncoming attack, Inuyasha suffered his first wound, as dots and spatters of crimson painted the earth the midair attack pulling the liquid down with him.

Gritting his fanged teeth at the sudden wave of pain and dark miasma pulsing through his body in violent spasms, Inuyasha struggled to regain his bearings as his senses began abruptly blurring and dulling for brief moments after the strike. Forcing his vision to focus, he studied his new wound, somewhat surprised it was to his right foot instead of his leg. However, upon attempting to stand straight, he figured out why it had been planned that way…'_shit.'_

On instinct alone, Inuyasha whirled around to face the oncoming flash of metal to youkai fang, blocking now more than dodging. Since he had been injured…it was as if on a subconscious level his need for survival was beginning to outweigh his refusal to fight back. (In all actuality, the hanyou completely forgot about what could happen should he be separated from his father's fang. Which wasn't good, as his youkai was becoming more of a problem.)

The tainted miko was relentless, as she continued to slash and strike at the staggering/limping hanyou, who was barely dodging and blocking the aggressive attacks and even still getting closer and closer to another violent wound slicing his flesh open. There had to be a way to get out of this! There was only so much his demonic strength could allow before he began to break down. Even he had his limits after all.

From Kagome's perspective, it was surprising how well this half-breed was faring against her new strength. He'd been fully exposed to miasma in his system, mentally and physically weakening him to no end, and yet here he was, standing on one foot, Tetsusaiga drawn and blocking nearly every attack she had dished out so far. '_It's no wonder that baka Naraku is having such a hard time cracking this egg, he's too grounded. Wonder how that happened…'_ the tainted miko smirked as she continued to swipe at her target repeatedly. Then, her sharp eyes saw a flaw in his form, his unsteady position exposing his wounded foot to the point even his demonic grace would not save him from falling over. So she hardly hesitated to strike where she could.

Seeing the purple aura loom just inches from his face from the blade Kagome swiped in front of him, Inuyasha dumbly landed smack dab on the soul of his split open foot full force, forgetting it was still wounded, a loud shriek of pain shaking the air around him. _God __**DAMN**__ that hurt!_ The hanyou mentally hissed as he, from the corner of his eye, saw fresh crimson splash to the ground, the air suddenly smelling of his blood, while none of Kagome's was to be found. His youkai was screaming with protest as the scent finally hit his blurred senses, to be fair and make _her_ bleed just as much, but of course, Inuyasha was far from willing to do anything of the sort.  
But…how could he escape with both he and Kagome intact? The miko was under Naraku's control, and had most of his minor abilities at her disposal. Hell, she had freaking _miasma_ seeping from that damn sword she was trying to kill him with!

Pushing Kagome's blade back at her with another quick collision, the purple aura from the girl's blade pulsing and glowing through his amber gaze, the hanyou suddenly got an idea. _'That's it! If I can somehow get that miasma sword out of her hands, maybe I'll have a fair chance of slowing her down a little and avoiding any more wounds' _It sounded simple enough in his head, but it was going to take some well-planned coordination and quick thinking to pull off in reality. Especially with his good foot feeling rather strained at the moment. If anything, his Tetsusaiga could play a part in increasing his speed level and pushing the pressure from the blade meets back at her to leave him an opening. But over powering her near demonic strength was going to be difficult...

"Hold still you filthy mongrel!" Snapped his attacker, her frustration rising fast as she continually met metal to air, ground, and tree bark. "You can't dodge me forever!"

"And you can't _fight_ me forever!" Inuyasha countered fearlessly, even as he dodged yet another attack from Kagome's weapon with a quick side step to his right.

It was becoming extremely difficult to avoid her weapon any longer, much less find an opening to get the sword away from her…Coming to a final realization upon that last thought, it was becoming clear to the prideful hanyou; he needed back up. Badly. If he didn't…He'd lose. He could possibly even die. That _couldn't_ happen. Not while Naraku was still alive. Not when Kagome needed him to save her now more than ever.

Forcing his blade to tilt ever so slightly into a more offensive position, Inuyasha swung the Tetsusaiga to block another attack, and at the same time push her back a few inches as he had done before, but this time a bit harder. Or, that had been the plan. This new darker, slyer Kagome was no fool. She knew Inuyasha wouldn't just suddenly decide to fight her on a whim without a purpose. He was going for her weapon, intending to get it out of her grip and leave her open for whatever it was he planned to do next. Did he honestly believe the sword was her only defense? Her only weapon? Even if she did lose her original offense, she still had newly acquired claws, and wouldn't hesitate to use them. All having been said, this was getting Inuyasha nowhere.  
So, deciding to play along, Kagome let herself slip back by his forceful shove, and purposely gave the hanyou an opening to sling the blade from her grasp. Swiftly and as harmlessly as he could, Inuyasha took the bait and sent the sword flying only inches from Kaede's feet, where she had been standing from the battles beginning some ways away, closer by the village. Amber meeting clouded brown as Inuyasha in a bluff gesture of victory, pointed the tip of his youkai fang at the miko's throat. But, as he continued to stare at her eyes, faintly hearing the clattering of metal in the distance, he noticed a strange glint in them, and the scent of…triumph?

As the sword met the earth before the aged priestess Kaede, her eye carefully scanned over the weapon in wonder. This energy…Tis different from Naraku's power… There was no mistake about it; this sword was also carrying the aura of tainted miko energy! Unfortunately, it was fairly weak, as the miasma was still dominant, and thus could not be sensed by untrained eyes or senses. However, should this energy come from its source it would wield far more damage, especially to a youkai of any sort, including a _hanyou_. Oh no…

"Inuyasha! Beware of Kagome's hands! Her hands!" The priestess called out desperately; however, it was too late.

The instant both parties realized it had all been a trap, Kagome's black aura surrounded claws jammed full force into Inuyasha's stomach one way and out the other. "AGH!" the hanyou cried out in pain, shutting his eyes tightly, gnashing his teeth impossibly tight. Stomach muscles tensing, splitting, and bleeding, the pain was excruciating. Inuyasha could feel his heart racing, and the blood rushing through his veins to the wound, only to ooze through his battered skin and into the already crimson threads of his haori, now ripped clean through.

As if things couldn't get any worse, Kagome's dark miko energy began jolting and electrifying through her body and into his, blinding him and making his world spin and swirl before his eyes. He growled fiercely and hissed as searing and unbearable pain began to push blood into places that it shouldn't. It was an agonizing, impossibly _hot_ and _burning_ pain that shocked the life out of him for seconds at a time. No previous injury had done this much to his body before! It was as if his hanyou durability didn't do _anything_ to dull the pain he usually only felt on the new moon, and instead all his senses were forced to take in he'd been fatally wounded. This wasn't miasma. Inuyasha was being _purified_!

Finally, after he thought he'd die right then and there from just the agony of it all, the tainted miko did rip her embedded hand from his punctured flesh, allowing as much blood to follow its removal as possible, purposely spattering it all over the battlefield, just the faintest spark of black energy flashing from her claws as she flexed them, streams of crimson dripping from her bloodied claws, its pure red coloring almost reflected in her dark eyes, even as the sun's rays replaced that of the moonlight all could have sworn shone from her voids.  
Inuyasha fell to the earth, defeated.

"INUYASHA!" cried a voice up above. It was a shrill, high pitched voice seeming to be coming from somewhere beyond the living…and for some reason, Inuyasha heard it. Or maybe he was just hallucinating. "Ka…Ka…g-go…me…" he murmured, before his body could take no more, and he slipped into unconsciousness.

But it was not Kagome's voice he'd heard…it had been Shippo's. Miroku, Sango and Kirara with them had finally arrived, but unfortunately, it may have been too late. As the new arrivals landed to the ground, and everyone hastily jumped from the neko youkai's back, what they beheld was truly shocking, and Sango even gasped from her own surprise. Never before had they seen Inuyasha look this battered. Sure he'd nearly died many times before this, but the way his body was curled and paled…bloodied and stained…it looked as if he were already dead.

"Oh no…" Miroku murmured under his breath. From what his spiritual powers were screaming at him…'_no…it's not possible! Inuyasha can't be…'_

Sango's own eyes were twisted in utter shock and disbelief, as her once proud nearly undefeatable comrade lay unconscious on the battle field. By the hand…of the one that had sworn to stay by his side and forever aide him…Kagome herself.

All eyes fell to the woman standing before them in silence watching over the limp body lying in front of her, but it was far from an honorable vigil over the hanyou's defeat. Her eyes gleamed with triumph, as she felt not even a single spark of remorse looking at his seemingly lifeless form, not even a small sign of it. She was utterly and completely, unashamed of what she'd done. One couldn't help but wonder…was it only Naraku's hatred gleaming in those hollow depths? Or was this miko truly and genuinely happy to see such a sight; blood seeping onto the surrounding area, the hanyou' fire rat garb stained and ripped open, a twisted expression of pure agony frozen on the fallen hanyou's face? It would seem now; no one knew what to believe.

"You…you MONSTER!" Sango suddenly shrieked on the top of her lungs, pulling hiraikotsu from her tense shoulders, as her eyes clouded in tears and grief. It was Kohaku's incident all over again. Naraku had taken someone close to her, and killed someone else she called family. She couldn't take it. She was seeing illusions. For a moment, she saw Naraku in Kagome's place, his twisted smile, that sickening glare, and was lost to it.

"No! Sango, don't!" Miroku called out, holding his hand to her shoulder firmly, stopping her dead in her tracks, her sight clearing just enough to see a battle ready miko glaring at her, expecting another fight and not at all hesitating. "If you try to kill Naraku that way…it will only bring more sorrow," Miroku simply stated, knowing where the grieving taijiya's thoughts were running. Sango let out a shaken breath, and nodded slightly.

As the air rose with shock, fear, unknowing, and pain from the villagers and its aged miko, Miroku's own gaze met that of Kagome's, daring to peer at them…all the houshi saw was that said pride and enjoyment, and behind it stood only shadows and emptiness. Kagome…what has Naraku truly brought out in you? Is it only a hollow void and an endless darkness? Of course, only the girl herself could answer that question, and she was far beyond anyone's reach.  
But, was it really over? Had Kagome's assumed goal really been accomplished so easily?

_Had Inuyasha __**truly**__ fallen?_

_~(+)~_

**Author's Final Note: **God, I hate this chapter so much…I feel like it was so mean and heartless. I wish it wasn't so necessary…  
Also, if anyone has suggestions for the storyline, other ideas, or even other stories you think I'd like, feel free to PM me! Love to hear what you guys think.

**REVIEWS ARE LOVE!**

**\/**


	4. Conflict Between

**Author's Note: **I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! Not as perfect as it could be, but near that ^.^

Official Disclaimer: Yeah, right. If I owned InuYasha, that hanyou would have pushed Kikyou off a cliff at some point in the anime. XD

**[Date Edited: July 16****th**** 2011]**

_~(+)~_

=Chapter 4: Conflict Between=

Miroku was probably the only one barely grasping sound of mind as he continued to stare at this young woman, covered and stained in his defeated comrade's blood. _Inuyasha's_ blood. His unmoving form just yards between both sides of the battlefield, the group's rising grief over the hanyou's defeat becoming ever apparent. '_We must stop her rampage, before the Kagome we know is truly lost to the darkness surrounding her. What could have caused you to succumb to such things Kagome? What could Naraku have possibly done to overcome your spiritual powers so easily?' _The houshi's thoughts were repetitive and solemn, and from what he could tell, this miko's aura was indeed tainted, however, for some odd reason, her powers of purification had not lessoned despite her full exposure to miasma and other dark energies recently. In fact, it seemed they might have even increased! It was strange to say the least.

"M-Miroku, what s-should we d-do?" A faint, trembling kitsune whispered from behind him, the boy finding a safe haven behind his robes.

Slightly turning his head as discreetly as possible, Miroku simply told him to go and hide in a hushed tone so only the two of them could hear. It was all that needed to be said for Shippo to know it was dangerous, and though he was reluctant at first, the kitsune did as he was told and ran toward Kaede in the small crowd of villagers who were brave enough to watch on from the borders of the village. (As it would seem over the course of the previous battle between Kagome and Inuyasha, things had gradually moved towards the edge of said village unknowingly)

Things were not looking good. The questions were overwhelming the answers. Should they be the ones to make the first move? To fight in battle with their once most trusted companion? If so, how far should they take such a conflict? Would they need to injure Kagome to escape with Inuyasha's weakened form, as he barely clung to life?

Yes, the houshi hadn't believed it at first, but the stubborn hanyou, even in unconsciousness, refused to fall at the hands of a mortal, as his human half of all things had come to his rescue during the full purification of his demonic energy. Being only half youkai as he was, Inuyasha had barely escaped with his life, and had only his dog-eared half spiritually fried, raven hair now gradually taking the place of his silver locks. The transformation was becoming clear to everyone who still watched over him, and Kagome herself was now aware as the silence continued. Only now, she was attempting to end it _again_!

Sango visibly tensed as she stopped herself from lifting hiraikotsu, unsure what to do as she heard Miroku instead holler out a warning to their possessed friend, "Kagome, if you so much as raise your sword to Inuyasha once more, I will have no choice but to fight you!" he scolded harshly, now glaring at the enraged woman who herself was showing signs of growing hostility. The silence…was about to end.

Brown eyes met those of deep blue, expressions from the faces they belonged to unreadable beyond something similar to aggravation. The tainted miko knew this houshi, and had once found his sound reasoning reassuring, that maybe not all men were total morons. (Give and take his perverted ways) Now though, her eyes had been opened. She could see clearly how blind and foolish she had been to believe these people could ever be trusted, let alone just the back stabbing hanyou; whose life was only seconds away from ending all together anyway.

Letting out a truly amused chuckle, Kagome turned her gaze to the houshi with a grin, a wild yet conflictingly bitter gleam in her eyes, claws still frozen above her, ready to strike.

"_Baka_." She murmured somewhat spitting out the words, her insult rolling out with amusement yet matter of fact logic besides. "Look at who I stand above! Look at who has fallen at my feet! The person who everyone thought was unstoppable, this filthy half breed that got just a little too cocky, and who let his pride blind him to the possibilities."

Then, she paused.

Hand still raised, the woman let her raven locks create a thick shadow over her crimson tinted orbs, a suddenly cold and hateful aura rising into the air as it was again thick with tension. No one dared speak, though the group opposing this miko still stood with a defensive awareness about them. Then, the girl's thick and wildly arranged black bangs rose up, her eyes suddenly a piercing blood red, while now outlined the same shade as a tainted jewel shard. A sharp intake of breath could be heard from somewhere in the crowd of villagers as this dark version of Kagome suddenly revealed her new form; words covering over the realization as harshly as possible.

"He was blind to how strong I _really _am."

Fighting back his own shock at this woman's sudden change of aura, abrupt altering of eye shade, knowing all too well what it meant, Miroku dared to open his mouth, as if it could possibly change her opinion of things, "Lies! _Lies_ Kagome! You know Inuyasha far better than any of us! He wasn't blind as you make him out to be. That hanyou only _cared_ for you, Kagome. He only wished for your safety. _That_ was why he would not allow himself to strike even a single blow at you. _That_ was why he held back!" And taking a forced breath, wavering breath, he even added "Your life was too important to risk."

The tainted priestess only scoffed at his words, they held no meaning for her now. Couldn't he see he was only wasting his time? "And _that_ is what _ruined_ him in the first place. It made him _weak_. He honestly thought he could hurt me! He doubted my strength when he knew how strong my aura was. He refused to see me as an equal! He'd rather acknowledge that dead carcass _Kikyou _as his equal over me! Even after I _wasted_ my life on him and did nothing but _help_ him! That half breed is a _bastard _and _no one_ can say otherwise!" She was shrieking now, as if that was what she truly believed, honestly convinced was the facts. She truly was unaware. _She_ was the one who could not see. She was blinded by whatever darkness Naraku had put over her eyes and her heart.

The houshi suddenly noticed how emotional Kagome had become over this declaration, this new outlook on the hanyou who had once been her friend. This sudden turn of events, the uttering of Kikyou's name brought a new idea to this problem. A scene, the monk had all but forgotten…

"_Don't think this is over just yet. I'll be back soon" Naraku's new incarnation, the infant, declared as his newly created force field began to slowly rise into the dust filled air, an utterly enraged amber eyed hanyou glaring daggers at the pale faced thing._

"_Shut up you bastard! Don't you ever touch Kagome again!" He shouted angrily, a sharp fang flashing through his upper lip for enfaces._

_As if not even noticing the threat, the child went on "Now that priestess Kikyou is no longer with us, that girl is the only one who can see the sacred jewel shards."_

"_What?" Miroku gasped in surprise. It had never occurred to anyone after the priestess Kikyou's death Kagome had suddenly become the last to possess the ability. He was beginning to realize the plan._

"_Soon, very soon. Once Kagome's eyes become ours, the sacred jewel will become whole once again." Pausing to let a small chuckle rumble his tiny throat the frail infant then added "One full of hate that is…"_

_There was no way Inuyasha would stand to hear some little brat speak blasphemy about Kagome that way! She _wasn't_ weak! "Are you crazy? There is no way on EARTH Kagome would ever do ANYTHING to help Naraku!" and it was the truth under normal circumstances._

_The child scoffed, unfazed by the half breed's unwavering faith in that weak human who lay still unconscious in his arms. "There are many ways to corrupt that girl, Inuyasha. So long as you cannot forget Kikyou" and with that mind boggling thought, the boy and his servant Kagura, were gone. Leaving everyone truly shaken. Especially Inuyasha…_

It all made sense now! The motive, how Kagome was acting! It was completely predictable, really. How could they have even allowed Kagome out of their sight those three days anyway? With Naraku already targeting her as he had been, why had they not thought he would go after her by the well that day? More importantly, why had they just up and decided to all go on that youkai extermination mission without making sure Kagome was safely at Kaede's hut first? It truly made his head spin with regret and guilt. However, in all honesty, that knowledge didn't really give Miroku much power at the moment. Though he was now aware what was going on, at least to some degree, he still didn't know exactly how Kagome had been corrupted, so there was no way to reverse it.

"Inuyasha!" Sango's sudden and urgent cry sent him back to reality as he watched the slayer attempted to block the oncoming attack on her friend, who was still unconscious and thus helpless against any oncoming attacks from Kagome. It was obvious the tainted miko cared little to pick a fight with either he or Sango. All she wanted was Inuyasha, and they had to protect him until the hanyou was ether conscious or out of harm's way. Which honestly, wasn't going to be anytime soon from the looks of his injuries.

Everything seemed to slow down for that moment, as Sango ran to her hanyou comrade's side, desperately pushing her mortal limbs as fast as they could go. If one had the senses of a youkai at that passing moment, they could have heard the pumping of a heartbeat, seen clearly the desperate glimmer of eyes, and the sudden flash of light as Sango drew her katana from its sheath in an eager attempt at spearing Inuyasha his life…and Miroku could only run toward them as the miasma blade went down, and metal attempted to meet it…

A clear ringing, clashing, and explosion of light erupted from the attack as Sango's sword did indeed hit its mark and reflect the midmorning sunrise in its wake, the near demonic pressure already weakening the youkai slayer's grip on the hilt of her weapon. She was near her breaking point already! Fortunately, Miroku was there to push Kagome to the side, and allow his partner in battle to snatch the miasma infected sword to the side, Kirara hovering over it in guarding. That was one defense down, at least.

However, if only they'd been in the clearing only moments before Inuyasha's own defeat. It was a moment just like this one when Kagome's trap was sprung. This was when claws replaced blade.

"AGH!" Sango grunted loudly as her body was forced back on reflex, a splash of crimson ripping through the air from a new gash on her neck as the taijiya shifted back from the sudden pain, losing her footing even more as this merciless version of Kagome struck another blow to her side while Sango's defenses were down. A double blow.

Completely blinded by pain and shock from the wounds she now bore, the purple smoke of miasma seeping through the cut as well, Sango did the only thing her mind could register. Counter attack. Without really thinking, she quipped the hidden blade in the sleeve of her taijiya uniform and swung her right arm to the side so the backwardly positioned weapon could hit home, and too late did Sango realize what had just happened in only a matter of seconds…She'd slashed Kagome's cheek.

From his place hidden in the crowd, Shippo couldn't help but freeze in utter shock as he watched the exchange between the girls. His bright emerald eyes were wide as saucers as he watched fresh blood fall to the dusty earth below, and Kagome's face snap to the side with Sango's strike, the girl's own dark orbs revealing her shock to the blow.

"Sango!" Cried Miroku, who had been following behind her as soon as he saw himself what had happened, rushing to her aid immediately. "Sango are you-"

"I'm fine! Get to Inuyasha! Inuyasha!" She scolded fiercely over her pained voice, her blurred brown eyes looking to the unconscious hanyou still laying helplessly on the ground.

Quickly gesturing for Kirara to protect the wounded taijiya, the houshi charged as fast as he could towards the miko, who was now out of her trance and raising her claws up in an attempt to strike down Inuyasha for good as she had planned all along.

"NO!" Miroku yelled desperately as he practically ripped the sacred beads from his right arm and hollered out,

"**KAZANA!"**

The massive black hole in his right palm was instantly awakened and released, its vortex halting Kagome's strike and pulling her away from the defenseless hanyou. She fought it, digging her feet deeper into the soil, but still the miko's strides where unsteady and slow. Finally she lost her footing and rose off of the ground completely, crying out in shock as the forced winds pulled her away, only for Miroku to finally close up his palm, wrap the beads back around his arm, and strike Kagome to the side, stunning her for a moment.

With the time he had borrowed, the houshi quickly ran to Sango, and helped her onto Kirara. "Miroku…what…What are you doing?" the taijiya ground out through her pain as the morning sunlight glinted off of the rushing blood from her wounds, her body gingerly being put atop Kirara's back.

"You're badly wounded Sango. Kagome's attack was infused with miasma. You can't stay here and fight in that condition."

"Miroku-"

Ignoring her attempted protest, Miroku nodded to the neko youkai before him, and in instant understanding, Kirara ran off into the crowd to Kaede's hut until it was safe to return. The houshi noticed Shippo following them once they had officially excited the battle lines. A dim smile came to his face, no doubt relieved he had saved his love from further injury and possibly death.

His time of such relief was short lived however as Kagome suddenly came to, her left cheek still bleeding from the injury she had received earlier. The houshi visibly tensed his hold on the wood of his staff tightening nervously as he saw the look of pure malice on her face, actually snarling at him in disgust as she wiped the flowing blood from her face with a battered sleeve.

"You BASTARD!" She hissed with anger, glaring with red tinted eyes of hate. Standing on wobbly legs for a moment, she clutched her aching side where Miroku had struck her, and flexed her free hand, revealing just how long and sharp her new claws were as they glowed with a tainted miko aura.

"You cannot use your spiritual powers on me Kagome, I am a houshi. Not a youkai." Miroku boldly warned her, his eyes revealing just how saddened he was at her corrupted state, but his body still showed some confidence as he silently evaluated what his options were. He succeeded in getting her attention away from Inuyasha, which was good. However, he was now at risk, and obviously leaving the option of striking down Kagome out, he was unsure what he could do at this point. No one could fight forever, so something had to be done, and quickly. He watched as the tainted miko began breathing heavily, her eyes glowing darkly, simply glaring at him. '_I'll need to get her away from the village somehow…but then…what do I do after that? She's not a youkai, so I can't use my sutras to stun her. Do I just…knock her out? Can I do that?' _What other choice did he have?

Before he could come to a final decision however, Kagome charged him, her claws raised, a loud battle cry ringing through the air, and struck her talons down, only to miss as the houshi dodged her clumsy attack, making her lose balance from the sudden pushing forward of her body only to meet nothing. With this opening, Miroku quickly used the wooden end of his staff to strike the miko again to the side, somewhat hard, pushing her back down to the ground and moving himself more in the forest's direction just in the nick of time before Kagome was again up, coughing just a bit as she obviously pushed herself to strike Miroku again, only to keep missing or hitting the wooden middle of the houshi's staff. For each strike, she took a step forward, and for each block, Miroku took another step back. With this strategy, hopefully Kagome could get farther away from the village, and _hopefully_, he could keep a safe enough distance to knock Kagome out. Once that was done, he could decide what to do next.

Ah, the ways plans can go so wrong…

"_Enough!" _Came the tainted miko's ground out roar as she suddenly lunged with just a bit more force than usual and this time, there was a strange purple aura seeping through her claws, smoke coming from it. Only having a split second to realize it was miasma, Miroku held up his staff in attempts to block the strike like he had been doing, only to have said staff snapped in two. _What? ! _Was the houshi's surprised thought and expression, but that had been a mistake. His guard temporarily down due to his shock and lack of solid defense, Kagome seized the opportunity to lash at the man again, and this time, instead of cutting wood, she cut garb and flesh.

"GAH!" Miroku cried loudly, his body jolting and pulsing violently from the large amount of miasma searing his bare flesh several centimeters in. Unable to withstand the pain, he fell to his knees and doubled over on the ground, unbearable pain corrupting his own spiritual energy and draining it out too much for him to use. _I can't…my staff…I…_but he could not finish the sentence as he abruptly lost consciousness. Just like that.

As the tainted miko coldly watched her once good friend fall at her feet with moans and violent spasms, both his hands buried in his folded form, she simply stared at him. "Serves you right for interfering, _houshi. _Be glad I didn't use enough miasma to kill you. It's a warning. Stay OUT of this, or next time, I really WILL kill you." Though she knew he was already long passed out, somehow she could assume he'd find out what she said. Then, just as the miko began to dash past the unconscious man lying on the small pathway surrounded by water, small trails of soil dividing up said water beds with planted rice, there was a sharp whipping through the air, and suddenly, an arrow was stuck in the road just beside Kagome's feet, a faint pink aura flashing from the projectile.

Whirling around in alarm, Kagome narrowed her eyes in the direction the arrow had come from, peering into the nearby shadows of the trees. Soon, her gaze caught a shape, an outlining of a woman dressed like that if a miko herself, a bow held firmly in her grasp…and as that same silhouette came into the light of the morning sun, it seemed as if fate had come to taunt her. For those cold, lifeless brown eyes could belong to no one but _her_.

Kikyou.

_~(+)~_

**Author's Concluding Note: **Yay! It's done! I had to go and edit the preview to fit the story, but it's mostly the same right? I also want to give much deserved credit to my dear story consultant Rhiannon (Aka **Splendent Goddess**) for helping me organize all those annoying loose ends wondering around this story plot. I couldn't have done these chapters without you! And to readers, _please_ check out her stories! She deserves your reviews more than I do. Seriously.


	5. Break The Curse Part 1

**Author's Note: **WOW this is late. I'm so sorry! I'm terrible at managing time let me say, but I truly did try and make it worth the wait! Even though these past 2 chapters have been nothing but fighting corrupted Kagome, and this one will be as well, I made this chapter and the one after it a 'Part 1, Part 2' special since it will be the final chapters to the first conflict. Phew!

**[Date Edited: July 22****nd**** 2011]**

**Disclaimer: ***Lawyer taps foot impatiently*

Me- "But…WHY? It's so unfair!"

Lawyer- *Looks at wrist-watch impatiently*

Me-"FINE! But I'm not paying you for this! I, Saria Forest14, do NOT own InuYasha or its characters and do not profit from this story in anyway."

Lawyer- *Smiles evilly in satisfaction*

Me- "It's a good thing this is fanfiction Sesshoumaru, otherwise I'd hate your guts"

_**~(+)~**_

=Chapter 4: Break the Curse Part 1=

_Kikyou…Kikyou is alive? _The aged priestess Kaede thought in both shock and surprise. Though it was unlike the aged miko to leave the village so rashly, she hadn't been able to keep herself away from the battle, somehow knowing she should follow the houshi and this corrupted version of Kagome. Her efforts had not been in vain.

She had just made her way over to assist Miroku in getting to his feet, though the man himself was unconscious still, when Kagome had turned back in their direction in attempt to return to the village and strike down Inuyasha no doubt, but before the tainted miko could notice ether she or Miroku, an arrow had whipped just to the side of Kagome's feet, catching the girl's attention. Eventually, Kaede's long lost sister Kikyou, had suddenly made an appearance. But this truly puzzled her, and for good reason.

Last the woman had heard, Inuyasha was confirming himself the death of her lost sibling. So, how could this happen? '_However my sister came to be alive once again, for an unknown purpose she has come out of hiding to assist Inuyasha and his friends…'_

Yes, Kaede knew her sister all too well; just in glancing at the woman's facial expressions she could see the odd intensity in her concentration and inner energy nearly burning the coldness in her eyes that death brought. Kikyou was rescuing them, but why?

That was of no concern to Kagome, whose own attention had been caught by this undead miko's sudden appearance. That buried flame of hate and jealousy long having been contained at the sight of this clay-bodied being, was no longer barred inside the tainted girl's aching heart; for now all could see the pain and rage suddenly erupting through her being. That nearly demonic aura swirling about her had just increased tenfold, now fueled with a new kind of darkness.

Turning all the way around to glare at her past self in the eye, Kagome's face was now twisted with the hardest expression of vengeful anger not even Inuyasha could have known. Besides the flames burning away the sanity in her irises, her brows were knitted tightly together, locks of hair darkening the frame of her face so her eyes glowed, and clawed hands flexed and tightened in an eagerness to run them through the clay shell of this disgusting excuse for a human.

"_**You**_" She growled, her young woman voice all but vanished as it rumbled and dripped with hate, her dark aura already noticed by the undead priestess.

'_Kagome has come under the influence of darkness as I sensed. Naraku…what is your purpose in doing this?'_ Kikyou pondered as she fearlessly stood her ground, simply answering the bitter remark with a cold, narrowed glare.

Kikyou did not instead to kill this girl, even in the name of protecting the remaining members of this village. Instead, she sought to save her; knowing all too clearly what disasters could lay in this darkened passage of time should something not be done otherwise. Besides that though, there was…something else, deep inside the undead miko's being that whispered an alternate motivation.

'_This girl is a part of you_.'

Yes, the nearly lifeless woman forced to walk among those yet to pass on, was actually concerned for a living soul, _her _soul. At least, a portion of it; what it would have been like had she not died.

'_Bonds are not meant to be broken…and those who attempt to ignore that fact never find the answers.' _It was what Kikyou believed, now that she had gained more wisdom, as ironic as that sounded.

"I should have let you die while I had the chance!" a sudden spiteful remark suddenly dashed into the miko's train of thought as the passing seconds caught up with her, still glaring reincarnation spitting out nonsense.

Kaede had to stifle a gasp of shock as she silently watched on. '_It was Kagome who saved my sister? How is that possible?' _Whatever the case, it would seem this was going to be an interesting encounter. Between past and future forms of such a powerful miko soul, strength alone would not decide the winner. It would be much, much more.

* * *

He felt…sore…and…tired. But otherwise, there was not much he could decipher from his current state. No memories came to mind as he struggled to recall why everything was so clouded and dark. He attempted to move, even angle his ears so as to try and pick up any familiar sounds, be they voices or the sound of battle. Only silence met them, a road-less thought instead confusing him more.

…_**Battle…**_

There was a faint flash of image, a feeling. Pain? Regret? Why would he feel such things at a time like this? Who had time to think such things in battle? Wait…_was_ it even a battle? Or just a small conflict? Somehow Inuyasha didn't believe it had been. Even if he couldn't remember much, let alone sense anything otherwise, he was almost certain whatever had gotten him in this shadowy mess was not a true enemy. He was absolutely sure he had tried saving someone.

…_**Someone…**_

Who…who could he have tried to save, and then felt such strong pangs of regret and wracking guilt for afterward? Who could have caused such things?

That image suddenly returned to his mind's eye…it had first been blurred and mostly colored blindly and only vibrant hues of purple and black among odd shapes had been visible. But now…he saw _eyes_. The eyes….of someone he _knew_. A familiar shape…a window he could have sworn he'd gazed through countless times and secretly enjoyed doing. But…for whatever reason, Inuyasha thought these eyes seemed different then how he'd remembered them. _They're coloring was off. _They were _red_, a blood lusting crimson.

…_**Fear…**_

Yes, he remembered fear. He recalled barely fathoming its meaning when everything had suddenly gone black. He remembered the way his heart sank into his gut when he'd seen those eyes, and had suddenly felt lost as to what he should do. _Inuyasha…had never felt lost. _Not since his childhood. This was big, this situation, whatever it was, needed his attention. _Badly_. His conscience, his mind (What was left of it) was suddenly screaming for him to get a grip! Shaking his slow reasoning's into over drive as they were _jerked_ forward, pushed _faster_, until all the hanyou saw was _light_.

He had to find that someone! He had to _save_ them!

Finally, he met the end. He stopped running. There was an entry way before him.

Without even thinking about it, the long straw woven mat blocking his way was quickly pushed aside, revealing the light ahead. Paving the way for a most interesting passage to walk through.

But it would not be alone.

* * *

Having caught a glimpse at the fallen houshi just feet away from her self-proclaimed opponent, Kaede still holding him upright, one thing Kikyou had managed to figure was time was not abundant, and sensing the miasma spreading through his system, this was no time to be dawdling and simply observing everything. If she didn't act soon, Kikyou wouldn't be able to save him from the inevitable if the miasma wasn't purified.

But, all this did not mean she wasn't acknowledging the seething tainted soul before her. In fact, Kagome's new aura was very powerful and was not something to overlook blindly. However, there was one thing the undead priestess knew more than strength. Skill. Skill would decide this battle. It was true Kagome was now much more powerful than before and it was beyond doubt she would be a worthy opponent; but she was still just a girl, who happened to have strong spiritual powers that were now tainted. It was not impossible to win.

"I can see you wish to fight me" Kikyou spoke plainly, her calm disposition only provoking Kagome even more it would seem.

Scoffing loudly and with unnecessary emphasis, Kagome almost laughed "I'm not going to fight you…" lowering her head as she paused, that same, eerie sensation that had churned through the air last time the girl's bangs had been hidden from view returned…and suddenly, her crimson tinted orbs were glowing again as she snapped her head up, "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" and just like that Kagome was suddenly pulling out a massive amount of power from her palms, and, with yet _another _sword held within her grasp, casted a thick cloud of miasma at the undead miko full force!

Kikyou promptly slipped an arrow from her quiver to her bow within seconds, gracefully releasing said projectile to meet the heart of this oncoming miasma cloud, instantly purifying it. However, due to its increasing vile aura, once the dust was cleared, there was no arrow to see flying through. It had been incinerated from the intensity of dark energy.

Slightly surprised at how strongly Kagome's rage was affecting her attack strength, Kikyou had a pretty good idea what she was up against. Not that she had planned on aimlessly shooting arrows at her reincarnation all hours of the day, but wasting her barely recovered energy rashly would get her anywhere, either.

'_Not to forget Inuyasha's predicament' _Kikyou's mind reminded, having sensed the hanyou's flickering demonic aura for a moment from somewhere closer to the village as her thoughts ran. '_Even if this girl's spiritual energies are now mix with darkness, it does not mean they cannot be purified. I must find the source of this darkness and eliminate it'. _It was her only hope of freeing Kagome, and possibly defeating Naraku in the long run.

Having seen the instant display of disciplined skill on Kikyou's part, Kagome found herself getting serious. '_I almost forgot. Kikyou is a __**trained**__ priestess. Taught most of her life to fight youkai. She can purify any miasma attack I dish out no problem…As risky as it is, I'm going to need to get closer so she won't have time to fire an arrow.' _

This in mind, Kagome gripped the hilt of her miasma infested weapon and charged, pumping her mortal legs as fast as they could go, sword raised, a battle cry shaking the air as she neared her target, all intending to end the miko's already barrowed life.

However, Kikyou was not someone to be reckoned with. She was fast, and even as Kagome charged at her, it took little time at all to pull yet another arrow from her collection and release it without even having to aim properly.

Seeing the arrow spear head her way, Kagome knew she wasn't going to have time to dodge, so quickly swiping her blade from its place raised above her head, to directly in front of her, she instinctively tilted it at an angle so all the arrow met was metal to metal.

A brilliant flash of pinkish light blinded the attacked for a moment as Kagome could feel a portion of the existing dark energies around her dissipate and vanish! _What's happening? _She thought in a panic. As the light cleared, it was suddenly obvious why a portion of dark energy had left. The miasma surrounding Kagome's blade had been purified, and though the arrow itself had also disappeared, the spearhead was still imbedded in the sword, a new crack having punctured the weak metal.

"Damn you!" Kagome shrieked, not daring to remove the piece of arrow from the sword, knowing there was bound to be some left over miko energy within it. However, her anger was suddenly twisted with alarm as her crimson tinted eyes spotted an unexpected third arrow being notched and fired; just barely missing Kagome's shoulder as she swiftly dodged the projectile in record time. But her focus returned to the now useless sword in her right hand shortly after.

'_There's no way I'm going to risk an outright frontal assault just yet. I need that miasma to weaken her first! Even if I had stupidly purified some of it before, there's still some left in that wound she's covering up. If I can get more miasmas injected there, she'll be done for.' _It was a good plan, but there was the matter of that pestering spearhead blocking the miasma from returning to the blade. She herself couldn't remove it, but maybe…

Without hesitation, Kagome decided. Sending waves upon waves of dark miko energy jolting down her arm and electrifying every ounce of metal in the weapon there was a small spark on the spearhead as it was forcibly shocked off the surface of its resting place and landed directly below the sword as more miasma finally surfaced again. Brilliant.

'_Now, to end this!'_

"Ready to finally die you walking carcass?" She called out as she raised her newly awakened sword to Kikyou, not really expecting a response.

Offering only a narrowing of her eyes, the undead priestess realized the battle was nearing its end, and Kagome was now ready to follow her earlier taunt. '_This is the beginning of the end.' _She pondered, notching another arrow through her bow.

Smirking, Kagome tensed her hand around the hilt of her weapon, savoring the silence for just a moment as she could almost hear the death bells ringing in the distance, welcoming its newest victim. Kagome would not be the one to cross those doors. '_The ghost of my past will finally cease to exist, and I will be free of her curse!' _With that in mind, the final faze began.

"DIE!" the dark miko cried as she swung with all her might and every ounce of power she had acquired from the darkness in her heart, and with an almost literal fire putting even hell to shame scorching through her very core, she struck the largest, thickest cloud of pure darkness even Naraku could not rival, and it was now heading straight for Kikyou!

Eyes slightly widening at the huge amount of _demonic _energy pulsing through that cloud, Kikyou knew an arrow wasn't going to cut it this time, or even a small dodge. _Time to expand the strategy _she realized, and as the massive cloud of life sucking miasma drew nearer to her, Kikyou put as much power as she could spare into her bow itself, and as it began to glow the brightest and purest shade of pink visible, she swung it, and struck the dark mass as hard as she could…

But it only partially worked.

There was a loud cry of pain as an almost thunderous booming could be heard from the cloud, striking Kikyou's bow and frying it to bits. "Sister Kikyou!" Kaede suddenly called out, setting Miroku down and stepping a bit towards her apparently injured sibling, her good eye wide with worry.

"Stay back Kaede!" a stern voice ordered, that shockingly to be Kagome's. "Or you're next!"

Kaede wasn't afraid, but something inside her knew it was best she not interfere. Kikyou, as injured as she probably was, always had a plan when it came to battle. She just needed to have faith…and, sure enough, the shadow of Kikyou becomes visible, only her left hand bearing any sign of damage since it was the hand she had held her bow with.

'_Her power…is truly corrupted.' _Kikyou pondered, glancing down at her burned hand. It had felt more like an electric shock then a burn. Which was why it had not been a purifying act, but it was only using the miko energy as a weapon, electrifying anything in its path. Not just effecting youkai as it was purposed.

Closing her wounded hand, Kikyou turned her attention back to Kagome. Now that her bow was destroyed she could no longer use her arrows as a defense, and any attacks or energy deflections she should use would require much more energy on her part as a result. Not only that, but another concern was the renewed miasma katana Kagome was using. This just got that much more dangerous. Even with her shinidamachu giving her occasional assistance, Kikyou knew relaying on them throughout battle was not a good idea. Kagome was no fool. She'd destroy them without a second thought before they got close enough to aide Kikyou's energy supply.

Seeing the undead miko's slight discomfort, it wasn't long before a truly evil laugh escaped Kagome's lips at the sight of it. She said nothing else, but sensing the uncertainty in Kikyou's aura, it was enough to give her confidence. Confidence, she far from needed. Sending yet another massive cloud of miasma the undead miko's way, it was truly surprising to see Kikyou actually duck and roll away from it as it flew at lightning speed toward her, succeeding in undoing the string tying her long hair together, letting it loosely fall and flow in front of her shoulders as she barely stopped herself from stumbling over in her already weakening state.

Kikyou couldn't risk purifying the clouds; for lack of energy should she need it most. So she could only dodge Kagome's attacks until Kagome revealed an opening to get close and attempt purifying the dark influence over her. It was clear this had to end soon. '_I must make my way toward her.' _Calling a shinidamachu to her aid quickly, it swiftly dropped a soul orb to her chest, giving her a much needed boost, and quickly dodging yet another mass of darkness, Kikyou began to make her way toward the girl. One side step, roll, and energy deflection at a time, until finally, Kikyou was close enough to sense it.

The dark seal over Kagome's mind, the remaining goodness inside her subconscious just beyond it. _That _was what was at least partially to blame for Kagome's lack of hesitance that would normally be displayed when under a dark influence. Now, the problem would be actually being able to make physical contact _long enough_ to actually purify that seal and free Kagome's purity.

'_Easier said than done, but not impossible.'_

Of course, as if fate had heard her thoughts, there was suddenly a barely audible voice murmuring behind the undead priestess. A voice she didn't even have to ponder over to recognize.

"I'll help you, if you promise to save her"

There, barely standing upright, his sword in its weaker state aiding in that, was Inuyasha. He was human, but he was conscious; and he was offering to help Kikyou free Kagome? Was he even strong enough to do that? Holding back a memorable smile, Kikyou knew better than to question such an idea.

'_Of course he is.'_

Kikyou finally nodded her consent, as Inuyasha made his way to stand beside her, with only one thought through their minds as they faced the opponent, and no other.

_Break the curse._

_~(+)~_

**Author's Concluding Note: ***exhales loudly* finally done! I'd say yay loudly, but I'm too tired. So, anyways, please leave a yummy review for your dear old writer. I'm STARVED over here! XD

By the way, knowing I'm guilty of the same thing many times over, even if your just quietly reading the story from some dark corner of the website and not leaving any reviews, at least leave one for the last chapter posted, because…well, it's nice! Please? I'll send you a picture of Inuyasha's doggy ears! Who can resist _those_?


	6. Break The Curse Part 2

**Author's Note: **I apologize that this took so long, and that it seems a bit short…FORGIVE ME! *sobs*

Regarding in-story info, keep in mind I write every scene one at a time, so everything kind of gets explained in slow motion, thus the extended description before anyone does anything. Feel free to skim it over if you get bored with those details, it just adds a little something to the story if you like lots of detail.

**[Date Edited: July 22****nd**** 2011]**

_**~(+)~**_

=Chapter 5: Break the Curse Part 2=

**Previously on 'What We Fight For': **_The dark seal over Kagome's mind, just below its evil binds the remaining goodness inside her subconscious. _That_ was what was at least partially to blame for Kagome's lack of hesitance that would normally be displayed when under a dark influence. Now, the problem would be actually being able to make physical contact long enough to actually purify that seal and free Kagome's mind. _Easier said than done, but not impossible.

_As if fate had heard Kikyou's thoughts, there was suddenly a barely audible voice murmuring behind the undead priestess. A voice she didn't even have to ponder over to recognize. _

"_I'll help you, if you promise to save her"_

_There, barely standing upright, his sword in its weaker state aiding in that, was Inuyasha. He was human, but he was conscious; and he was offering to help Kikyou free Kagome? Was he even strong enough to do that? Holding back a memorable smile, Kikyou knew better than to question that. _Of course he is.

_Kikyou finally nodded her consent, as Inuyasha made his way to stand beside her, with only one thought through their minds as they faced the opponent, and no other._

_Break the curse._

He never expected this. He never even imagined it was possible. Kikyou and Kagome, both standing their ground on the opposing sides of a bloodied battle field; fallen friends, fearful humans…and one completely torn Hanyou.

Yes, Inuyasha was witnessing the day the two most important women in his life faced off in a battle of the millennia, and not for its intensity in the actual battle, but for an obviously different reason. In an unexplainable way, they were fighting for _him._

Of course he had questions, of course he wanted details as to why Kikyou was even here standing beside him right now; but his need to save Kagome was stronger, and understandably so. The entire reason he'd even been able to regain consciousness in the first place was because of his will to protect her, to save her. It was in reality, only a few minutes ago, but he still felt like it had been a blurred memory. It had all happened so fast…

***Flashback-eight minutes ago***

He'd barely opened his eyes and filtered out the burning rays of the morning sunlight when two blurry figures had caught his attention some ways off. Seeing just a glimpse of the red hakama and white kosode only worn by miko, he knew who was standing nearby. He had been completely floored as to how he should react to this, or even react at all. So many questions flashed through his mind as they nearly crashed with his resolve to continue to ignore her existence. (1)

_What should I say?_

_What should I do?_

_She's obviously fighting Kagome, but…would it be wrong to help her if it meant saving her life?_

The last question had his eyes widening. He couldn't _actually_ be considering the idea of fighting Kagome at Kikyou's side…could he? Of course it would be for an important cause, and maybe because Kikyou was the soul Kagome had inherited she could somehow influence the conflict in her favor but…it just seemed so…_wrong_. After all, the exact reason Kagome was in this situation was because of the countless times he had selfishly run off into the woods searching for his long lost love and thinking little of how it was effecting Kagome until he had nearly lost her in the process. In fact, that time only weeks ago was almost repeating itself, but on a much grander scale. This was what would have happened had Inuyasha not rescued Kagome the first time, only now; he had been the one pushing her toward darkness himself, without even having to say anything at all. Just being caught _standing_ with Kikyou was all it had taken.

Of course he cared for Kikyou, but it was now he realized it held a different meaning then his growing relationship with Kagome. It didn't have _life _in its bonds, but simply grief, regret, and sorrow for what could never be on this side of the border between worlds. However, since he had never explained that to either woman, it was obvious things needed to be cleared, to Kagome if no one else. But in order to do that, he needed to _save_ Kagome. Because he _did _care for her. He just wasn't sure to _what _extent yet. But there was one thing he did know for sure.

If sparing Kagome's life meant it killing Naraku _tomorrow_ he would everything in his power to make it happen. If it meant surrendering all the strength he could ever own as a hanyou he would give it up without a second thought. If it meant teaming up with Kikyou…_I'll do it. I'll do all of it for you, Kagome. I promised to protect you, so I will. No one will get in the way of that now!_

The hanyou's ever clouded mind finally beginning to clear away the fogs of unknowing, he saw the path before him, the choice he hardly needed to think about to know it was a firm standing goal. Something even his inner youkai began to whisper within his thoughts.

_**Protect**__ her. __**Save**__ her._

Suddenly, his drowsy senses became clearer, and Inuyasha's ears were now ringing with the intensity of sound as a loud cry of pain shook the air around him, another voice following its call, giving the poor guy a headache from being unconscious so long,

"Sister Kikyou!" It was no doubt Kaede's voice.

'_Has Kikyou been injured?' _Inuyasha wondered as he felt his already sore joints and muscles clench. Out of instinct alone, the cry had his body attempting to jump up and help, but unfortunately, it wasn't that simple.

'_Damn it! I've still got this stupid injury! Why now of all times to be feeling the pain? Normally I don't feel anything this intense unless…' _

His body tensed_. _Oh no. It couldn't be. Fearing the worst, the-previously thought to be-hanyou managed to turn his head to the side and feel for a human ear at its side. What response his skin gave him was undoubtedly irritating, not to mention extremely inconvenient.

'_SHIT! Why is this happening? Why NOW?'_

Then, a flash of purple electricity came to his mind's eye. His breath hitched in his throat at the image. '_That's right…Kagome…purified me.' _Even if he knew the facts of the matter, it still hurt to know she could ever do such a thing. It was the ultimate message between a miko and a youkai, that they were _not _allies, let alone friends. The pain it sent his heart was even deeper than Inuyasha could have ever imagined possible. His now dark violet gaze hardened in expression. All the more reason to get his act together and put an end to this mess. He stifled a frustrated growl, almost angry at himself. He had to stop acting so _emotional_ and get his butt in gear! _NOW_!

His eyes now clear and fully open, Inuyasha began searching for something to help him stand, considering he didn't trust himself to be upright without support, and given his injuries and the pain they were now actively causing his system. Glancing over to his right Inuyasha saw the now rusted looking Tetsusaiga laying where he had dropped it upon his blacking out earlier, only inches from his spot on the ground fortunately. Reaching over for it with one hand as quickly and painlessly as he could, on wavering knees no less, the hanyou-turned-human stabbed the end of the blade into the dirt and pushed himself up, entire body trembling and aching as more pressure was forced upon the weak form he now possessed. Inuyasha couldn't hold in the sudden cringe and small grunt of pain from within him as he stubbornly held on to his sword's hilt ether, the blood still seeping from the open wound to his gut leaking through his fire-rat haori and dripping to the ground as he continued to stand.

'_Urgh, my vision is still blurring. I must have…lost a lot of blood already…'_

The physical complications never ceased to remind him how annoying it was to be only half youkai, but Inuyasha knew better than to get stuck on the matter, as his clouded eyes managed to focus on both Kikyou and Kagome, who for some reason, didn't even notice he was back on his feet, albeit weakly. Not that he was complaining.

Looking back to Kikyou for the moment though, Inuyasha had to think of a way to get her attention now that he knew she was alright from the apparent blow she had taken earlier, without having to do too much on his end.

Then, Inuyasha saw his opening. The miko had just rolled to the side to avoid a cloud of miasma that Kagome had fired at her through her youki powered katana, and was pausing to think over a strategy as Kagome herself took in breath, her miko bow having gone missing it seemed. Bravely taking his first steps on the bloodied battlefield, stabbing Tetsusaiga into the soil heavily as his full body weight went with it for each step he took. Making sure he still kept himself just barely out of harm's way but still in range to be heard. His head was now pulsing with a mild headache, but if he was going to get out of this thing alive, there was no other option but to suck it up and move on.

Until finally, Inuyasha spoke for the first time to the woman of his past since discovering of her recent revival, and for once, there was no awkwardness in the air, there was no other thought in mind besides a memory of the one he was trying to save at the moment.

"I'll help you, if you promise to save her" In all honesty, it surprised the human-hanyou how smooth and clear it sounded in getting the message across, and for that he was grateful. Of course, that didn't mean nervousness was beyond his thoughts ether once they had been uttered, as he now realized he'd gotten Kikyou's attention, and her lifeless gaze turned in his direction instantly.

Their eyes locked for a moment that seemed like forever as understanding sparked within her ever lightless depths, and she nodded, eyes not leaving his face until he was himself by her side.

***End of flashback-Present***

Inuyasha had made it back from his mental state of darkness, and though he was a weak human mortal now-for however long-he would stop at nothing to get his best friend back.

Even with this in mind though, it still concerned him how this was going to go about. He would _never_ strike Kagome, (not that he really had the strength to do that anyway, really) but if nothing else, he could try and block any attacks that came his way.

'_Hopefully…'_

However, it would seem his presence had finally been noticed by the opposing side. The expression of pure hatred on her face continued to unnerve him, and was that a GASH on her cheek? ! How had he not noticed? !

'_Focus, baka! FOCUS!'_

Kagome was only some paces from his place beside Kikyou, sword still in hand, darkened purple kimono her garb, (though it had become harder to tell over the course of the battle as it was stained with many things and torn in some places) and the ever consistent crimson tint in her eyes, a truly livid expression across her face. She had since caught her breath, and now seeing Inuyasha standing with Kikyou against her. It nearly sent her over the edge entirely.

"You both _sicken_ me!" She spat, literally, as her voice lowered into an almost animalistic growl, hands shaking with rage as the sword she grasped began to tremble wildly. Head snapped to the hanyou before her, she sneered, "I can't _believe_ I actually used to _care _about a two timing _bastard_ like _you_! Your name itself should have told me firsthand what an _animal_ you are!" Every word she emphasized made Inuyasha cringe, the pain of his wounds increasing from the torment, and out of automatic defense he opened his mouth to say something; something to calm her down, or just something to make her stop yelling at him, but an arm was suddenly raised before him to stop his voice from flowing out.

"Offer her no reason to continue and she will stop." Was Kikyou's statement.

Faintly nodding in pained agreement the human-hanyou closed his mouth, even as Kagome still went on, fizzing his blood into the thick mists that were shame and guilt. It was nearly unbearable, hearing these things pass her lips…things, she never would have thought of him had Inuyasha known from the start Naraku's illusion had been fake. This was his punishment.

"Letting your mistress tell you what to do now, I see. I never expected _you _of all people to submit to a human woman. A _dead_ one at that!" Okay, this needed to stop. Now. Honestly, what the heck was all that supposed to even mean anyway? !

'_My headache is getting worse…'_

Sensing Inuyasha's obvious frustration, Kikyou mentally agreed with his desire of wrapping this up. Though she was not one to usually taunt her opponent, or even offer anything as a response, now was one of those times she needed to. "Do you wish to fight us or not?" She demanded impatiently, almost snapping about it.

Kagome paused, somewhat surprised by the words spoken, but barely showed it as she finally got back into fighting stance. "You're not worth my time." She stated coldly, "But the world will be better off this way, with two less _backstabbers_ in existence!" and with a devilish smirk and small chuckle, the final faze began again, and this time, it wouldn't stop until the end.

'_Focus. Focus. Focus!' _Inuyasha scolded at himself, vision again beginning to blur, clenched fists shaking with frustration as he waited for someone to make a move. In some way, his pride was a little damaged. He was almost always the first to make a move, but now, he was actually _waiting_. He hated it.

Until suddenly, she lunged for him.

On first instinct, within a heartbeat Inuyasha pulled out his sword sheath from his side in defense, pressure landing heavily on his weakened shoulders. He let out a cry of absolute agony as his muscles instantly buckled under the intense pressure and he was eventually pushed to the ground on his back, scarlet drops following him down, injuries getting worse by the second. "Weakling!" Kagome hissed as she again slashed her claws in his direction.

Unable to find the strength to react in time, Inuyasha simply froze as he watched the tainted miko rush toward him, her claws raised above her head. "No!" a desperate cry sounded from the side as a burst of violet light exploded in front of the said pursuer, a horrified expression plastered across her face. Whipping around to see Kikyou's left hand smoking with purple toned steam, a small jolt of electricity sparking through her nails for a moment afterward; Kagome's eyes were wide with shock at seeing the after effects of one of her own attacks.

'_How…How did she do that!' _Kagome gasped mentally, continuing to stand before the said miko in wonder and loathing jealousy.

'_Good things come to those who wait' _Kikyou confessed within herself.

It was well said. That dark energy Kagome had struck at her with earlier on when destroying her bow had indeed been useful. The remains of that energy on her left hand, the burn mark, had stored the essence of the attack, and through her own miko powers Kikyou recreated a copy of the dark blast. So, seeing Inuyasha needing her help, Kikyou reacted by using the saved technique, however, at the cost of a valuable portion of her own reserved energy she did not use during her one on one battle with her reincarnation before.

"You bitch!" Kagome seethed, her focus now on Kikyou as she charged for her.

Deciding it was time to use a more advanced technique, even in the dangerous place she was putting herself, Kikyou closed her eyes, ignoring the sound of Inuyasha's calls of warning as she chanted a small spell, and just as Kagome was about to strike her, flashes of pure brown shone through and Kikyou herself slapped the oncoming attack away in extremely precise timing, and even as she did, a pure pink light appeared in her strike's trail. In the moments Kagome was pushed back by the act, Kikyou had taken the light path and materialized it into a bow! A flash of light had the bow filled with energy again as it struck Kagome a second time. As the second move took effect, Kikyou found herself stumbling over just a step, sensing within herself she may have over done it.

Temporarily zapped by the back-to-back strikes, Kagome cried out and lost her balance, stumbling and trembling from the pure energy overtaking her currently tainted system. It was the perfect time for Inuyasha to jump in, sword again stabbed into the earth to pull him up and to his feet, one that was still split open. He ignored the pain, the cries of protest his muscles and wounds yelled at him, eyes locked on course.

'_It's now or never!' _

Bolting as fast as he could, the human-hanyou ignored the searing pain pulsing through his own body as he forced weight to _both_ his heels, crimson droplets trailing behind, and sending a silent apology to the true Kagome, Inuyasha rammed into the stunned miko and pinned her to the earth for hopes of buying time for Kikyou to recover from her immense release of spiritual energy.

"Let go of me!" Kagome screamed as she then realized what was happening and began struggling under his hold. Being as stunned as she still was, and the fact Inuyasha was now fully human, she could not purify the human-hanyou again, but was ironically left to fight him off the old fashioned way, which wasn't exactly doing her any favors at the moment…

Though Kagome was obviously still on the stronger side, it would seem Kikyou had affected her connection to the dark energies Naraku was probably sending her; those few purifying attacks having weakened her a little and allowing Inuyasha to at least hold her down for an extra second.

"_NOW_ KIKYOU!" The darken eyed hanyou forced himself to holler through the strain he was pushing on himself, given his body was still barely grasping the strength to push down on Kagome's wrists, his voice obviously struggling. His forced his eyes to look into those of Kagome's, and before he could find the meaning within, he realized his sight was blurring. Had he really pushed himself too far already? As she continued to struggle, Inuyasha did sense his strength was wavering, as Kagome's wrists were gaining more and more free range within his grip…

'_Dang it! Not yet! Not yet!'_

Just barely seeing straight as she was, Kikyou knew another opportunity like this wasn't going to come again, sensing Inuyasha's own aura flickering, and by gods there was not really a way for her to do this on her own, not with how weak she was beginning to feel. Even if it cost her the remaining strength the shinidamachu had given her so long before in this battle, it would ultimately decide if Kagome could be freed. There was no other option. Nodding at Inuyasha's signal, Kikyou pushed herself toward the entrapped girl before her, and knowing the hanyou saw her own mental signal, released his grasp over Kagome, and just as she stood up to strike…

"_**ARAAAAAH!"**_

A deafening, earsplitting screech of pure agony ripped through the air as blinding light flashed from Kikyou's palms and through Kagome's body as they made contact. There was no color, just white as it mixed with the dark aura that had been stored within the miko's conscious mind, the dark seal finally being purified.

Kikyou could feel the immense influence her powers were having on the raw demonic energies within her reincarnation. However, what surprised the undead priestess was not the power, but what the essence of what that energy was.

'_This aura is like that of the tainted Shikon no Tama! How can that be? I could not sense a shard within her body, corrupted or pure!' _

Before anymore thought could be made on the subject, Kikyou found herself losing consciousness, and as the screams of pain suddenly tuned out, and darkness came, the miko found she had known this black shroud before…She did hardly noticed the dim orb of light suddenly leaving the purifying collision, nor realize Inuyasha was calling Kagome's name, instead of her own.

Landing to the ground in utter exhaustion, Kikyou's purification spell now had ceased and the light was gone, leaving Kagome to drop to her knees and then to the ground in front of her, it would seem the threat had now past. Kaede, who still had continued to watch the entire scene in as much concern as those in battle, there was only one thought as a sudden silence deafened the air.

The curse was broken. They had done it.

_~(+)~_

**Author's Ending Note: **Well, there ya have it. The end of the first major battle sequence between evil Kagome and the other characters. BUT, by no means is the story over. _OH_ no.

Also, the minor side note (1): If you watched episode 1 of Inuyasha the anime, remember that little pathway Kagome runs across after she jumps down a small ledge? Well I wrote it so that ledge doesn't exist, and the village is just flat and right next to that pathway by the rice fields where Miroku passed out a couple chapters back, so THAT way, Inuyasha could be close enough to see some ways off Kikyou and Kagome fighting. Does that make sense? I hope so…


	7. Aftermath

=Chapter 6: Aftermath=

In that one moment, everything seemed right. As if a foreshadowing of Naraku's own demise had been shown. However, as always, such a peaceful feeling, such a promise of hope and happiness was too good to last.

Inuyasha, having seen both women collapse upon the ceasing of bright purifying light, forced his way on wobbly legs toward the unconscious miko.

"Kagome!" the hanyou called out, arriving next to his companion's side as she lay unresponsive on the ground. He knelt down to see how bad the damage was, but before he even got the chance to touch her, her eyes opened. "Kagome?" Inuyasha spoke in surprise, studying her face as she woke. After such an intense battle he thought as a human she would have been out at least a few more minutes. However, when he got a good look at her eyes and at her expression…that joy and relief all but vanished.

Kagome was glaring at him.

Kikyou faintly heard voices, and was just beginning to regain the energy to move. Not being human, or even truly living for that matter, she took less time to recover then a living person might have in her circumstance; the only thing she really required were souls to animate the clay body she used. She felt no pain, no aches or unclearness of mind. In fact, her eyes were already opening, and upon that act the memory of light; that orb of light she had seen right before darkness had temporarily taken her. She now knew that had happened, and what she had truly done.

'_I failed in saving her.' _Kikyou reasoned, now catching sight of Inuyasha kneeling beside her reincarnation in relief and concern. '_But instead may have brought down her final judgment.' _When Kikyou finished her mental musing of regret, Kagome too had opened her eyes… and somewhere between the events of a glare and a gasp of shock, Inuyasha had been tossed to the ground behind him, an expression of shock on his face.

"What, did you honestly think just purifying my ass off would fix everything, Hanyou?" The harshness in her voice had not changed, and the crimson tint of her eyes lingered still. She was the same as before.

Inuyasha just sat there, frozen in disbelief. '_Kikyou gave everything she had into frying Naraku's dark spell to ashes! Why isn't Kagome free?' _His fear defensively warping into a desperate rage, he didn't know what else to do with it besides yell at realizing this turn of events.

"What the _fuck _Kagome?" He shrieked, suddenly finding the energy to push himself off his ass and to his feet, glaring his own kind of anger at the miko before him, who for some reason hadn't made a move towards him yet. "What the hell did I do to make you this angry? What's _wrong_ with you? What the HELL is your fucking PROBLEM?" His throat was practically burning as his scolding reached its peak upon the final question, but Kagome seemed unimpressed, and unmoved.

"_Don't _you _dare _demand answers from me. No matter what you do or say, the pain I feel can't be pushed aside!" She said coldly, her claws already flexing again, preparing for a round three. Inuyasha wasn't sure what to do as he nervously pressed his feet deeper in his standing ground placing a hand to his bloodied gut reflexively from the pain.

Fortunately, he didn't have to ponder it over long, as a sudden pick up in the breeze caught everyone's attention.

In the blink of an eye, there was a loud _Thunk _with the next gust of wind and a loud grunting of pain as Kagome suddenly fell limp in Kagura's arms; the back of her neck having been struck with the end of a fan.

Almost instinctively upon seeing Kagome fall, Inuyasha angrily lunged after her but still being human, was far too slow to get anywhere close to reaching the dark miko in time. All the hanyou earned for his effort was a laugh of amusement from Kagura overhead with a large current of wind, Kagome now unconsciously aboard with her on the feather. "Later, Inuyasha" was her heartless goodbye as she flew off with her cargo.

"No! Kagome!" Inuyasha called out, but they had already disappeared. He dropped to his knees as his dark colored eyes stayed transfixed on the horizon. '_She's gone…I…failed…I failed to save her from Naraku…' _

"No…" He murmured. It quickly burst into flames however, igniting a sealed up rage that had only worsened over the course of the few moments he'd been silent.

"_Damn_ it!" He snarled through his clenched teeth, slamming his fist into the ground. But it wasn't enough. He hit the earth again, and again, and again. Until Inuyasha felt liquid seep through his sore, aching, and reddened skin. He loudly swore upon seeing it, his only reaction being disgust at even feeling such a putrid thing on his knuckles. To numb the throbbing he tightened his fist, ignoring the way his skin turned white from it.

His blood. It only proved how _weak_ he was, and how _soft_ he was. No wonder Kagome was still in this mess. He couldn't save her. He couldn't even _protect_ her as he had promised. No matter _how much_ of himself he put into this, it just _wasn't_ good enough. It had never been enough to keep her away from Naraku, let alone harm in general.

'_This is all my fault…' _He bowed his head in self-disgust and guilt, but no tears came. For that, Inuyasha managed to be grateful for. It was the only dignity he had left to hide.

Kikyou stood on her feet; having seen enough of this. Though she somewhat understood his reaction, the undead priestess thought it foolish to grieve in that manner. There was only one thing she could do to fix this, and it wasn't by having an emotional breakdown. No, she planned to track down Kagome and find out just _what _Naraku had done to her, and then reverse it in whatever way was possible.

Thoughtlessly and wordlessly Kikyou began to take her leave, Inuyasha too busy with his own emotions to see she was leaving. But it would seem fate had other plans.

Her strides stopped suddenly, eyes widening slightly as the miko actually felt a jolt of power spark nearby…that of a miko's aura. But it wasn't just miko aura. Kikyou turned around, gaze instantly locking onto the location of what she had felt, and was amazed at what she saw. There floating peacefully and undisturbed close by Inuyasha, was a soul. The only difference with this one was its color. This soul was a of a pink-ish hue instead of a light blue. That was what it took for Kikyou to remember the soul orb she had seen fly out of Kagome while she had tried to purify her.

'_I had thought that part of Kagome had died and been lost, but it seems something is still tying this part of her being to the mortal world…'_

"Kagome…" Inuyasha's sorrowful whispering took Kikyou from her musings just in time to see a slight reaction from the piece of Kagome's soul, as it actually seemed to float closer to the hanyou at his unknowing summon. It hardly took a genius to figure out the reason why it had happened. It was almost humorous, actually.

'_Of course. Kagome's soul is still tied to Inuyasha.'_

But this moment of peace was interrupted as the light orb suddenly began to flicker in and out of sight. Being familiar with souls for obvious reasons, Kikyou instantly knew even with such a strong desire to stay earthbound it could not prevent the person's spirit from leaving. The fact this was the only remaining piece of Kagome's pure soul only worsened the consequences. Kikyou had to act quickly if she was to even have a chance of saving her reincarnation, and potentially defeating Naraku later on.

Reaching her hand out towards the piece of soul belonging to her reincarnation, Kikyou took a spiritual hold of it, and with a gesture of her hand sent it flying to the nearest person within reach to save it. Inuyasha.

He had been completely lost to the world as his bangs served as a barrier from those no doubt watching him. Shame was beyond the accurate description for what he was feeling. It was more of a sickening, nearly nauseous aching in his gut.

"Kagome…" He heard himself whisper breathlessly, a tone engulfed in emotion. In longing.

_Inuyasha?_

His body instantly tensed, his mind shaken that he'd actually gotten a response. The even more alarming fact was it had been Kagome's voice he'd heard just now. How was that possible? Before he could begin to try and fathom just _what _was happening, he suddenly felt really light headed, and thinking abruptly became a concentrated task. His sight blurring, head spinning, he bent his head over to stare at the ground, feeling like his head was swaying.

_Inuyasha?_

No energy left within him to fight it, considering what the hanyou had already endured today, in human form no less, Inuyasha gave in to the illusionary echo of Kagome's voice calling him. As he eventually felt himself give in to gravity, he dared to call after it…feeling just for that moment, the presence of something he would never be sure had ever been there in the first place…

Kagome's hand holding onto his.

_Stay strong, Inuyasha!_ _I'm with you…always._

_**~(+)~**_

**A/N: **So get this everybody. This chapter was missing from the story when I got a new review from someone asking where the heck Kagome had gone to! I checked to see, and had put double posts of 'Essence of Dreams' where 'Aftermath' was supposed to be O.o Sorry about that guys! It's here now, amateur writing as it is LOL.

Now, BACK TO WORK for me!


	8. Essence of Dreams

**A/N: **Hello all! Back to the editing again ^.^ Gosh this took forever, but I tried my best to make it sound smoother. Hope you can tell the difference just a bit at least.

As for my beta reader, Bird That Flies At Dawn, she is now busy looking over my older chapters for grammar mistakes and such, so that's a plus ^.^

Also, I'm no longer updating my profile with journal entries, if anyone even knew about those, LOL.

_**[Date Edited July 25**__**th**__** 2011]**_

_**~(+)~**_

=Chapter 7: Essence of Dreams=

"Inuyasha!" The horror struck cry of his name sent chills down his spine, adrenaline boiling his blood with urgency, even as he held Tetsusaiga tightly in his hand. Fangs bared, body tense, and eyes on the prize, the hanyou ran in a desperate rage to get to the one calling out for aid.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha called back, even as he struck the beast holding her prisoner within its claws full force; careful to avoid hurting said damsel in distress. A wail of pain came from the wounded youkai, and soon it had no choice but to release its hostage, clawed hand blooded and wounded from the attack.

"Ahhhhh!" Kagome screamed as she began to submit helplessly to gravity's wishes from the sudden release on her body. In no time though, Inuyasha was there to catch her, as always.

"You alright?" He asked quickly in a soft tone of concern, his amber gaze scanning her over for himself to see.

However the miko nodded in confirmation anyways, "Yes, I'm fine. Hurry and get the shard from its neck!" she then answered hastily, as her hanyou savior gently set her down with an understanding nod some ways away from the youkai currently charging them, while he himself whirled around protectively in front of her. Sword still unsheathed and held tightly in his left hand.

"Alright, stay behind me" The hanyou ordered quickly, pointing the end of his demon fang at the approaching enemy. He couldn't help but flash a cocky smirk, knowing this was his final move. _Keh, this is too easy! _Raising his weapon up in confidence, as swirls of gusting wind surrounded Tessaiga, it was obvious what was coming next…

"**Kaze no Kizu!"**

Instantly upon the battle cry, storming gusts of wind and youki energy blasted away and toward the raging youkai who barely had time to realize he was gonna die. And of course, that's exactly what happened.

When the bright lights from the previous attack cleared, and the shrieks of pain ceased, it was finally time to receive the reward. Both miko and hanyou began walking to where the youkai had been pretty much fried to death, and soon found a nice shiny jewel shard just begging to be picked up. Kagome was the one to do so, and soon it joined the others inside her tiny glass bottle that had been hanging on a chain around her neck.

_Mission accomplished_.

"Damn, just on the way from Kaede's hut to the well is becoming a hassle. You'd think Naraku would take a break once and a while," Inuyasha casually remarked as he walked nearer to his miko companion, ready to resume the stroll to said well.

Kagome herself looked over to him with a warm smile, her sweet brown eyes twinkling with amusement for some reason, "Well, at least there was a benefit from it all." And after pausing to see the hanyou nod his agreement, she suddenly placed her hand in his, succeeding in confusing Inuyasha even more. "And thanks for saving me, Inuyasha," she whispered shyly, avoiding his gaze.

Instantly flustered and red faced, all the poor guy could do was stupidly answer, "U-Uh, sure thing." **Que mental face slap**. '_Baka! That's gotta be the stupidest thing you've ever spit out!' _He scolded to himself, still too embarrassed to really respond otherwise.

In all honesty, Inuyasha wasn't sure _what _was going on with him and Kagome today. Only moments before they had been at each other's throats for Kami's sake! And…now that he thought about it…weren't Sango and Miroku with them then? Where'd they go? Oh well, whatever. Onto more important matters.

Hand burning and heart racing, Inuyasha bravely took a breath and tightened his own grip on Kagome's amazingly soft hand, feeling her own grip tighten as well. '_It feels like silk…' _Inuyasha suddenly found himself thinking, only to find his eyes widening at what had just formed inside his thoughts. Kagome's hand did _not_ feel like silk! It was just a hand! _'Yeah. Right. I'm real convincing, aren't I?' _

"Inuyasha, your hurting my hand," Kagome's sudden remark instantly took him from his mental warring within himself, only adding to the awkwardness he was feeling. Somehow though, despite himself, all Inuyasha managed to do was loosen his grip, he never let go.

"S-Sorry…" He then muttered sheepishly, avoiding her gaze as they continued to walk toward the well, hands _still _holding.

Overhearing the miko beside him giggling at his expense, the hanyou managed to feel a little defensive. Why wasn't _she_ embarrassed? Kagome _never_ did this sort of thing without being pink faced, so why was she suddenly so bold and confident? (Not that he was complaining or anything) In fact, the last time they had held hands like this was when they had made up after the Kikyou incident several months ago…What did this mean?

"Inuyasha?" Kagome started, once again stealing his attention from his ever confused thoughts.

Slightly turning his head in her direction, but still avoiding her gaze he answered, "Yeah, what is it?"

"Um…I was wondering…" She continued, even as Inuyasha felt her hand warm within his grip, "Tonight's the new moon…and I was just curious if maybe you'd want to come with me back home?" Okay, _that _was unexpected. Seeing his surprised expression, the embarrassed young girl began to try and cover over her proposal with reason, "I mean you don't have to but I thought since you always have to hide and never get any sleep and we always end up running from danger and you end up really tired or injured you'd be safe in my time and you could just sit there and watch TV or something so—"

"Sure," Was Inuyasha's answer, which was successful in shutting the fast talker instantly. Now it was her turn to be surprised.

"Really?"

"Why not? Miroku and the others are still at Kaede's hut and probably figured as much already, with how long we've taken."

Hold on, how exactly did he know that?

"Okay…" Was Kagome's shy answer, now avoiding his gaze.

Still, Inuyasha's own heart couldn't stop thumping so loudly. '_What's going on with me? It's gotta be because of the new moon. It's already sunset after all.' _Somewhat in curiosity, the hanyou found himself looking down at their joined hands while he thought, still somewhat amazed he hadn't let go yet.

"I wish everyday could be like this," Kagome suddenly spoke up, seeing where his gaze was wandering to.

Snapping his head up to look her in the eyes, still curiosity gleaming in his own, Inuyasha couldn't resist the urge to ask why.

"Because…It seems like this sort of thing doesn't happen anymore. You and me together…" She paused, fearing if what she was about to say next would ruin everything, "Alone…"

The clueless hanyou honestly didn't know how to respond to something like that. It was just so…so…sudden! Where was all this coming from anyway? All Inuyasha could get out was her name, and a tone of surprise. "Kagome?" He could feel it, the sweat in his palms, the rush of blood going to his cheeks…he felt like he was going to explode!

However, Kagome was yet again surprisingly bold, and placed her head on his shoulder, nearly ignoring his flustered reaction. "I suppose it doesn't matter though…I'm just happy to be by your side."

In that moment, everything stopped, all his thoughts and feelings froze in place. She was practically _begging _him to _do _something, and so almost out of nowhere, just as the sun began to finally appear over the horizon and daylight came... (Wait, what?) it was like something overtook his very being, as both his hands were suddenly on Kagome's shoulders in a flash, and Inuyasha's lips…met hers.

Her lips felt like nothing he had ever touched before, impossibly _heavenly_. Warm and tender and welcoming; refreshing. Then her scent hit him, and _Kami _was it amazing! Sure he'd caught her scent before, but never this close up. The sweet tint of caramel with vanilla…

Finally Kagome responded on her own, as Inuyasha felt a pressure around his neck when she wrapped her arms around him, pressing herself as close as she could get without crushing him. He could hear her heat beating with his own when they pressed together, as if the contact had somehow put them in sync with each other, and all at once Inuyasha's senses were on her, and only her…Kagome. _His _Kagome. Damn everything else and what that probably meant, he didn't care. All he knew was that she was _his_, and he wanted her to _know_ it, know it within her very soul! All control was lost as he now found himself taking the kiss to a more passionate level, deepening it as his pulse quickened even more and his tongue now danced with hers, satisfied moans coming from them both; a seemingly never ending spiral of pent up emotions, suddenly being released after months of tension.

_Kagome…_

It was the only word he could complete, the only one that formed within his thoughts. The kiss felt as if he hadn't seen her in decades, in a longing almost; getting everything he could while it lasted and praying it wouldn't ever end. However, he still needed air in his lungs, as did she.

They pulled away breathless, an utterly dreamy expression plastered on their faces, eyes fogged and blurred from the experience. All he saw was her…and all he heard was her voice…

_Inuyasha? _Wait…that _wasn't_ her voice.

_Inuyasha! _It came again, but Kagome's mouth never moved!

_Inuyasha!_

**-[]-[]-[]-**

"GAH!" Shrieked a completely deflated Inuyasha as he abruptly jolted out of a deep sleep, heaving for breath and gasping like he had been nearly suffocated. He started coughing shortly after, holding his sore gut from the sharp pain he now felt from the shock consciousness brought on.

"You gave us quite a scare," Miroku's voice suddenly caught his attention as he moved within sight, his detailed features or facial expression too foggy to see clearly. Though from where his voice was coming from, the houshi was sitting right beside him.

"You stopped breathing for nearly five minutes!" Shippo piped up, jumping to sit beside the blurry minded hanyou to his left, as he began to wipe away the sleep in his eyes and attempt to clear his mind. "It's a good thing you're hanyou again, Inuyasha. I don't think you could've lasted that long without breathing if you were still human."

Immediately jolting at the news, Inuyasha did manage to feel atop his head for ears, and sure enough there they were, sitting proudly like they had never left. He sighed in relief. But upon thinking over why they had been gone in the first place, his thoughts almost instantly went to Kagome, somehow skipping any memory if importance and shooting straight to the…unreal stuff. His face went blank as faint images came to his mind.

'_Oh no...Freaking __HELL__ I did NOT dream that!' _Inuyasha mentally fumed, shaking his head wildly, utterly disgusted with himself. All watching him simply continued to stare, wondering why he was acting so strangely, but once they saw his facial expression and the color of his face, no one needed to think about it.

"Inuyasha, I don't think that's going to get rid of your dreams about Kagome," Shippo then decided to tease.

Glaring with clear frustration, and red faced for more than one reason, he had to lash out. "What the hell makes you think I was dreaming about _her_?" He scolded, pounding his fist onto the defenseless kitsune's head, coldly ignoring the boy's cries of pain afterward.

'_He totally deserved it, the little runt!' _Inuyasha mentally fumed, folding his arms defiantly.

"Well one can only assume such things when you say a particular person's name over and over again in such a…_passionate _manner," Miroku interrupted, a sly perverted grin etched into his face. "Tell me Inuyasha, did Kagome's lips feel as pleasurable as you wished them to be?

"I don't even know what the heck you're talking about!" Inuyasha practically screamed, his face now completely crimson with both embarrassment and rage.

"Miroku back off already! Give the poor guy a break. He just woke up! Stress won't do him any good," Sango snapped, from her spot beside the fire pit some feet away. (If one looked clearly, they might have spotted some bandage wrappings around her neck as well. Inuyasha could still smell the dried blood from them, but chose to ignore it for obvious reasons)

Miroku waved his hands innocently, "Why my dear Sango I was only inquiring if Inuyasha had a pleasurable sleep! It should have been worth it for how long he was unconscious." Sango was obviously unimpressed, but what the houshi had said managed to get Inuyasha calm again, his mind now forced else ware.

"How long was I out?"

All members of the present group faced him, now more serious. "You have been asleep for about two and a half days"

"WHAT!"

"Relax Inuyasha, we all were. The only reason we woke up before you did was because Kikyou purified the miasma causing us to even pass out in the first place. Your injuries were more serious. Not to mention you had been human when you went down and the excessive damage you did to them in battle," Sango explained.

The hanyou's rage instantly vaporized. Kikyou healed them? He hadn't expected her to stick around that long. When he'd last seen her, she was barely able to stand, so regaining lost strength must've taken quite a bit of her time.

"Is Kikyou still around?" He asked.

He managed to notice the guarded expressions his friends now had upon his question, not really blaming them for their reactions honestly, given the circumstances. "No. Kikyou left as soon as she was able to heal us with some recovered strength. Before she left however, Sango and I were able to have a very informative conversation with her," Miroku spoke up finally.

"Well, what did you talk about then?" Inuyasha inquired, rather irritably for some reason.

"Kagome's curse."

"_Curse_?"

"Yes, a curse," Miroku repeated, "Apparently, when Kikyou attempted to purify the dark influence she felt residing in Kagome's mind, she had sensed an energy identical to the tainted Shikon no Tama within her….I must admit I felt something similar while Sango and I were battling her as well."

Inuyasha felt a sense of true dread at this information. "Don't tell me she has a jewel stuck in her head or something." He sighed, the bluntness of his words not matching the concerned tone in his voice.

Miroku shook his head in the negative. "No, Kikyou didn't mean like that." Seeing Inuyasha's face express confusion, the houshi went on. "The aura she was feeling seemed to be coming from Kagome's spiritual energy itself."

"_What?_" The hanyou gasped, amber eyes wide.

Sango nodded her agreement. "Yes, Kikyou believes Kagome's spiritual energies have somehow become mixed with that of the Shikon no Tama's, the results pretty obvious as you've probably noticed first hand Inuyasha" The taijiya paused to gesture towards the hanyou's wound. "But what still remains in question is if Kagome truly is under Naraku's control or not."

Inuyasha frowned. "Why would that even be a question? Naraku's obviously got some seal over Kagome for her to be trying to _kill _us!"

Realizing they were treading on sensitive ground, both Miroku and Sango's expressions hardened, and Miroku's voice became more firm, "Think about it Inuyasha. Kagome wasn't reacting the same as she did when Tsubaki was controlling her, or when Menomaru controlled her like you told us he had. This time, she seemed completely aware of what she was doing. She didn't seem to be fighting it at all…" However, the houshi's voice trailed off, seeing the denial in Inuyasha's eyes.

"I'm only going to say this once." He warned harshly, "Kagome is NOT doing this of her own free will, ya got that? ! Don't any of you EVER say something so _stupid_ again!" And before anyone could say or do anything, the hanyou was already leaving the hut, passing Kaede without a second glance as she entered through the doorway with a basket full of herbs in her arms. She revealed a confused expression to the others still there, and all they could do was shrug their shoulders.

"Does anyone have one of those ice pack things?" Shippo whined from the corner of the room, still rubbing his head.

**-[]-[]-[]-**

'_What do they know? Bunch of bakas! Kagome is __**nothing**__ like she was when we saw her. No one could ever just _convince_ her to kill me. She…she couldn't. Only Naraku could have made her that way!' _Inuyasha had been repeating the idea in his head for over an hour now, concealed from anyone's view atop a branch of the Goshinboku as the moon shone through the leaves above him turning them a glowing silver blue. He was still clearly upset, given the style he was sitting in; Legs crossed, arms tucked away in the large sleeves his fire-rat haori, and face wearing a hard frown.

Really though, how else was he to react to such a theory involving Kagome's loyalties? If Sango or Miroku were in Kagome's place, the theory would have been a bit more believable in all honesty. Especially considering Sango had at one time believed Inuyasha responsible for the death of her clan. _'Besides..'_ he defended _'conscious-minded brain screwing ain't that bastard's style.' _Grunting firmly to his new and firm-set idea, Inuyasha knew he was right.

Eventually though, even Inuyasha had to let his temper settle. As appalled as he was at his friends for even _considering_ such a stupid theory, somehow he was able to tell himself getting angry about it just wouldn't solve anything involving the problem. The only way for Inuyasha to put all these thoughts and doubts his friends were having to rest was to save Kagome, and it was all he found himself thinking about afterwards. Well…almost all he thought about.

Actually, he ended up wandering to his dream some way, and it was hardly a comfortable experience, to start out with. He'd never had such a _detailed_ dream before, and about Kagome no less! Just the idea of her lips on his…It sent a red line across his face every time. And yet, as hard as he tried to argue with himself over it, and how utterly stupid it was to dream about such a thing, in the end he couldn't deny the fact he had enjoyed every minute of it. Even the battle parts somewhat. After everything he had to go through with the girl, and everything they had been through together and all the lessons he had been forced in some unique way to learn, he was finally beginning to figure out just spending time with her and being with her made him…happy. The hanyou felt a dim smile spread over his face as some scattered memories of the past came to his mind. Yeah, Kagome did make him happy. Maybe more than he realized at the time.

That smile faded as a new thought came to his mind though. It was all the more reason Inuyasha needed to save her, the second time he had reminded himself of this so seriously. Kagome's most recent appearance proved that point even more. The look of hate in her crimson tinted eyes, and the bitter tone she used with him, Inuyasha almost found himself thinking she _had_ hated him. Kagome had even _purified_ him, and shamelessly continued to try and finish the job! No matter how many times Inuyasha tried to tell himself why that was, it still didn't change how he'd felt about all of it. For some unexplainable reason…it just hurt. A lot. _Damn this is confusing!_

Thinking over all these thoughts about his stupid human emotions was hardly what he wanted to be doing anyway. All that mattered was that he saved Kagome and brought her back safely, and that was that. End of story.

Though it still took sometime afterward for the hanyou's mind to go completely blank of emotional goo, by the time the sun began to rise, Inuyasha found himself dozing off…and once again caught in a dream.

Only this time, little did he know, it would have even more meaning then the last one.

_TIME…Time stood still in this world of unseen memories. Unknown sorrows, things unhidden, unspoken and unheard. It was a place of dreams. Where fears were easily expressed and no one judged you for it. Where ties to trees and bloodlines didn't matter. It was a place beyond the bonds of people's eyes, only what lay truly visible mattering at all. Yes, this was Inuyasha's fantasy world, of inner hope._

_The said hanyou was standing in a forest clearing, a serene peaceful expression upon his face. He'd never felt so pure…and it seemed too good to be true. He didn't feel any anger or bitterness at all. This place…couldn't be just __his__ world could it? There was something else here, __someone__ else…_

_"Inuyasha!" a voice shouted out to him, full of joy and relief mixed into one tone Inuyasha could never mistake for another's._

_Slowly turning his form in the direction of the call, he once again found himself smiling, but for a more important reason. "Kagome," He stated, somewhat as a greeting._

_"It's…so good to see you again!" She panted, having been running all the way to him._

_Inuyasha was a little confused as to why she was acting so happy to see him, but looking past her to where the Bone Eater's Well stood, maybe it was because she had been away for a while in her own time. "Relax, Kagome. You were only gone for three days!" He laughed genuinely, but the confused expression he earned from the miko threw it off pretty quick. In fact, her face was changing to be quite serious now._

_The hanyou found his own emotions following suit. "Is something wrong Kagome?" He asked, revealing his concern._

_Studying her appearance a little closer as she remained silent to his gaze, Inuyasha realized there was something…strange about her presence. He could see her face and expressions a lot clearer than the world around him, which seemed to have a blurry outlining to it. Her hair didn't flow with the breeze like his did…In fact, in some freaky way, it was like she didn't even fit in with the things around them. She stood out completely._

_"Kagome, answer me! Are you okay? Did something happen in your time or something?" He pressed, landing his clawed hands to her shoulders in now completely serious concern._

_Though Kagome continued avoiding his stare, she did speak up this time, "No…I guess it's something you won't understand."_

_Okay, now he was even more confused! What the heck was that supposed to mean? "What do you—"_

_"Listen to me, Inuyasha. Just, listen." Upon his reluctant nod, she continued, "You need to find me. Search for me and I'll come. I'm only here right now because you want me to be, but I didn't reach out to you on my own so my presence won't last if I tell you the truth."_

_The poor guy just blinked, completely lost._

_What was he supposed to say to something like that? 'Find Her'? She was standing right in front of him! And what was she implying by saying he wanted her to be there? This wasn't a dream! He couldn't just summon her whenever he wanted!_

_"Kagome, you're not making any sense!" He finally scolded, completely frustrated._

_Without a word she put a hand in his, succeeding in shutting him up, her face seemed saddened somehow, "I know…I wish I could tell you…I really do, Inuyasha…" And as she turned her eyes away from Inuyasha's own, she nearly broke down as the hanyou's keen sense of smell detected salty tears welling up in her eyes, and caught another scent; the scent of…guilt? "Forgive me…Inuyasha." And all of the sudden, Kagome's image, the scenery of the forest; it all vanished and changed to something else he would never remember._

_**What was going on?**_

_~(+)~_

**A/N: **Inuyasha you perv! Lol. I have to say, this particular chapter was much fun to write. I've been looking forward to writing/posting this chapter for a while now, since it gave off a more 'in-cannon' feel, with some extra InuxKags steaminess as a compliment, hehehe XD

If you're confused about something, it's honestly what I was going for. You're not supposed to know everything yet!

By the way, if you're wondering why I had the second dream italicized and the first one I didn't, it was because you readers didn't know until a bit more in that the first one was a dream, whereas the second was pretty obvious, so if I'd italicized both, that would have given the actual setting away too fast. Make sense?

Thanks again Bird That Flies At Dawn for all your help with my typos! ^.^

**Reviews are love!**


	9. A New Direction

=Chapter 8: A New Direction=

Inuyasha woke with the first rays of dawn ascending upon the distant horizon, brushstrokes of pink orange and crimson painting it perfectly and the birds chirping their morning songs in the distance. The faint breeze caressing the leaves up above the thick branches carried with it the scent of dew, and fresh air. Though it was surprisingly on the colder side this morning, which explained why the hanyou's face felt a bit numb. On the positive side though, he hadn't ever recalled sleeping so deeply. Didn't exactly feel refreshed and all that, but at least he wouldn't need much rest for a long while.

Still figuring it too early to move around more than he had to, given how wet and just 'dewy' everything was going to be if he stepped down and onto the grass below him, it was soon decided by the lazy Inu to stay atop his perch in the Goshinboku until the other members of his group awakened. Knowing them, they'd be up in another three hours or so.

While he lay there watching the sun rise farther and farther into the colored sky, it was almost the instant he set to thinking Inuyasha's thoughts landed to his dreams the previous night, or what he could recall of them anyway. _Kagome… _He voiced mentally, as a faint image of her beautifully joyful face flashed across his mind's eye. Somehow, it didn't surprise him he'd dreamt of the lost miko; Kagome's absence was constantly on his mind since this whole thing started, so the fact those thoughts had eased their way into his dreams was just to be expected.

_'Listen, Inuyasha. Just, listen'_

"Huh?" The hanyou flinched, startled from his musings by a very familiar voice. His amber gaze scanned the surrounding area eagerly, but upon finding no one in earshot to be trying to speak to him, an irritated scoff gruffly left his lips. '_Course she's not here, you baka! She's with Naraku.' _His logical mind snapped bitterly, pushing his overall attitude into almost a pout. It didn't take long for him to wander to yesterday's track of thought all over again after that. But not without added questions; and of course none of them could be answered by the ignorant hanyou alone.

Before he knew it, two hours had passed, and the sun was very well over the distant mountain peak borders, the regular hue of sky blue signaling the work day to be starting. By this time however, Inuyasha was hardly in a mood to wait yet another hour for his friends to get up.

'_I don't care if they were injured! We all slept long enough those two days! Being this behind, who knows what's happened to Kagome already!' _He grumbled irritably to himself as he gracefully jumped from his spot up in the Sacred Tree and began to head towards the village nearby in a flurry, the grass no longer wet from the dew thankfully. Before he got there though, Inuyasha's keen hearing picked up rapid footsteps thundering his way in what seemed like a panic, from behind him.

A man soon burst through the clearing, sweat dripping from his brow and eyes wide with fear as he dashed past the hanyou, apparently not having time to see him as he dashed past. From what Inuyasha could pick up beside the obvious from this human, was smoke and burnt clothing.

'_His village must have been burned down,'_

Suddenly curious about what was going on, Inuyasha decided to follow the human to Kaede's hut, no doubt where he was heading.

**-[]-[]-[]-**

As Sango slowly sat up in her futon, blinking away the blurriness from her eyes, it was almost on instinct she checked for a certain perverted houshi, making sure his hands had been kept to himself all night. Seeing Miroku still fast asleep up against the wall of Kaede's hut admittedly loosened taijiya's muscles just a bit, and she sighed with relief.

Still trying to clear away the grogginess she was feeling, Sango let her eyes stray from Miroku to the rest of the room. Though Kaede's hut was pretty small and simple, it still seemed to give off a very cozy energy, almost safe. Perhaps it was because of who lived here. Kaede was a very caring woman, and seemed to take pride in keeping what little living space she had neat and tidy. The fire pit, though constantly full of gray ashes and used fire wood was still kept surprisingly clean, and the floorboards surrounding it were always well swept and dirt free. Off in one far corner of the room was the woman's collection of healing herbs, including the new addition of Gennoshouko herbs Kaede had harvested yesterday and brought home shortly after Inuyasha's temper tantrum. When Shippo had later asked what they were for, Kaede had answered they helped with 'tummy aches' and other digestive problems.

"uhmm…is it morning already?" Grumbled out a certain someone's voice. Sango had to stifle a giggle_. 'Speak of the devil'_ she thought.

If one looked closer though, the small kitsune had dark circles under his eyes, which clearly said he'd not gotten enough sleep last night, explaining his less than chipper behavior this morning. That thought had the youkai slayer's urge to laugh vanish rather quickly. Since Shippo usually slept with Kagome at night, it must have been a pretty big adjustment on the boy's part having to sleep by himself. It seemed minor from anyone else's perspective, but to those who knew better, it was a sobering thought. Shippo was an orphan after all, and still very young. All this in mind, a sympathetic expression passed over Sango's face as she finally got the motivation to move a bit more, and scooted over from her futon to the fox youkai some ways in front of her, helping him sit up as he cutely wiped the sleep out of his eyes.

"Yes Shippo, it's morning." She answered gently, hearing a sort of whine follow her answer.

"But I'm still tired…" He grumbled.

The taijiya only smiled, "I know. I am too. But remember, we have to get an early start if we're going to save Kagome anytime soon." She hated having to use such a sad thought to inspire Shippo's determination, but it was the only thing she knew would work, and of course, it did.

Shippo's dull, tired expression lessoned greatly, and his bright emerald eyes seemed to widen in realization. Looking up at Sango for the first time that morning, he seemed more himself "Want me to get Miroku and Kirara up?" He offered eagerly.

Sango smiled dimly, but nodded her agreement, "Sure, if you want. I'll see about getting us all something to eat."

"Okay."

That little conversation over with, both of them set about their new tasks. On the way over to Kagome's old yellow bag which no doubt held that morning's meal, Sango's eyes unknowingly wandered over to Miroku's staff, and she recalled the houshi holding each of its two half's in his hands, the results of Kagome's 'spiked' miko powers as it had been explained. Shortly after everyone (besides Inuyasha at the time) had come to, Miroku had inquired to Kaede about getting it repaired. Fortunately, all it had taken was a bit of spiritual energy, a few sutras and spells, and now it was good as new, give or take a tiny scar on the wood. And so again the woman was reminded of their goal. Despite the new ideas and doubts regarding the tainted miko, Sango was still sure as ever she and the others would eventually find a way to return their friend to normal. For now though, it all started with the simple things. Like breakfast. _'Right. Getting back to that.'_

Soon the room was filled with the smell of freshly warmed up 'ninja food' and all in the hut were sitting around the fire pit, eating it up. "Thanks for making breakfast Sango!" Shippo smiled as he slurped up some ramen Inuyasha had apparently neglected to eat.

Brushing off the compliment she only shook her head "All I did was boil the water. It was nothing."

Miroku, who was now obviously awake, disagreed. "No need to be modest Sango. Your skill with food should not be belittled. You did a fine job."

Feeling a blush heating across her face, Sango struggled to find a comeback. "W-well, I suppose so…"

Seeing the taijiya's flustered reaction, Miroku seemed quite pleased with himself, but was also secretly disappointed. _'Such a shame I can't offer my full gratitude'_ he mentally pouted. Indeed, Sango had smartly moved herself across the fire pit from his own position, avoiding any potential 'feel ups' the houshi might have suddenly been inspired to make.

Somehow, Sango knew what her male companion was thinking, her blush quickly dying away at the idea. _'Ha! Take __**that**__ Miroku!' _She grinned cleverly within herself. Perhaps she should consider making these new sitting arrangements permanent? Somehow, she wasn't able to find it within herself to go with that thought. Though she chose to ignore any reasons why that was.

All friendly tension was cut short when the group heard someone running towards the hut, and in no time said person came dashing through the door, frantically looking about the room for something.

"Sir, are you alright? Is there something you need?" Miroku quickly inquired, noticing the stranger's battered appearance.

"Youkai! Youkai were everywhere! Kaede, where is the miko Kaede?" Though he wasn't exactly clear minded, it was obvious this man had come running all this way asking for assistance with a youkai infestation of sorts.

Turning to Shippo, who was watching the entire ordeal with a troubled expression, Sango gave out her orders. "Shippo, go out and find Lady Kaede and tell her it's an emergency" The young kitsune gave a silent nod and setting his now empty cup of ramen aside, darted from the hut's entrance with a small gust of wind trailing behind him.

"His clothes smell of smoke and the remains of a fire" A gruff voice suddenly spoke up, as the owner of said voice came casually through the doorway behind the strange village man All attention turned to Inuyasha as he then leaned against the wooden wall next to the threshold, seemingly rather bored by the situation.

However, in between the time it took Inuyasha to speak and settle himself against the wall with his thoughts, the human man in front of him shakily turned to look at the speaker, and instantly seeing his dog ears atop his head, all but lost his mind. "YOUKAI! Youkai have taken over Japan!" He screamed frantically.

A vein on Inuyasha's head began to pop and pulse with irritation as he watched his other friends attempt to calm the man down. '_Typical human and all his idiotic glory.' _Grumbled the hanyou as his eyebrows fell to outline the tops of his eyes as a giant scowl covered over his facial features. Eventually, when nothing seemed to be working on calming the guy, Inuyasha finally took it upon himself to shut him up. Strolling over to the frantic human, Inuyasha promptly slammed his fist onto the guy's head, to which it knocked him out. Cold.

All besides the 'attacker' stared with mixed expressions of shock, relief, and horror. "That takes care of that" He grumped, and quietly shuffled his way outside and to the roof. Inuyasha didn't necessarily need to be inside to overhear anything of importance anyway. Not only that, but he didn't want to be angered more by the lingering scent of ramen he'd detected in the air. _'That runt's gonna get it for this! Eating my share of the ninja food is just __**asking**__ for it!' _

When Kaede finally arrived, the man was just coming to, admittedly more sound in mind and less jittery then he had been. (Perhaps Inuyasha had ended up doing him a favor? How ironic) Once the aged miko had given the man something for his mild headache, he wasted no time in explaining his reasons for coming.

"The village was under attack, and before I knew it my family and I had gotten separated…I looked everywhere I could, but I never found them." He stated simply, obviously needing to take a minute to compose himself.

Sango, knowing all too well the empty feeling of loss and regret took it upon herself to reassure the man, and also to coax what valuable information she could out of him. "I'm sure you did all you could do. It would have only worsened matters if you had gone after the youkai beast."

This got the man's attention, as he mind yet again filled itself with fear "Oh it was not just any crazed youkai" He began shakily "In fact, it nearly resembled a human woman minus the pointed ears and crimson eyes."

Miroku was the next to question him "This youkai woman, was she wearing a pink and white kimono, with small feathers in her hair?"

Again the villager's eyes lit up, this time with recognition as he turned his eyes to the monk "You know of this woman?" He inquired fearfully.

"Indeed we do. She has been an enemy of ours since she came into existence. She is an incarnation of the youkai Naraku." Miroku explained as calmly as he could. A pause for thought gave him time himself to ponder all this over.

'_If one of Naraku's goons attacked that village, there must have been a reason besides just a random killing spree on helpless human villagers…'_

Turning his attention back to the man, Miroku continued his questioning "Sir, is there anything of value that may have existed in your village? An heirloom or an emblem of sorts that would cause a youkai to come and take it?"

At first nothing came to the man's mind, but after some deep thought, his eyes widened. "Yes! Yes there could be! A stone."

"Stone?" Sango echoed in confusion.

He nodded "Yes, a very beautiful stone was given to our village by a traveling houshi, saying it would bring us good fortune…seems it was just a ruse, with all the calamity my village suffered."

"So you don't even know if the stone is worth anything? Any spiritual powers youkai may come after?" Miroku pressed.

The man shook his head "If it had any abilities, I should think someone would have tried to come after it before this. We had it in our possession for over a year before this attack." The man sighed "I just wish that blasted thing had done _something_ to help us…"

It was then Kaede decided it step in "Come. Ye have been on a long tiring journey. Perhaps ye would like to rest before continuing such a discussion."

"Yes, I would like that very much. Thank you." The man answered.

While all the discussion had gone on, a certain eased dropping hanyou had taken this information to heart and gone it over; as he was sure the others were doing as well. '_I have a feeling that stone is more important than they think. It's the only reason Naraku would send someone like Kagura to attack a human village so out of the blue.' _Having expressed those thoughts to himself it was then Miroku and the others came to fetch him, to which Inuyasha complied, jumping from the roof to the side of the hut where everyone awaited him.

"You heard the conversation?" Miroku asked.

"Yeah. Looks like Naraku's up to something." The hanyou replied, shoving his arms into the sleeves of his haori in thought once again.

"It's obvious this stone is somehow related to Naraku, but whatever ability it seems to possess is unique to the situation. Otherwise it would have been taken by some other rogue youkai long before this." Sango added, petting Kirara in her arms while she too pondered it over.

"So what do we do?" The said kitsune pestered beside Sango, tired of all these unanswerable questions.

"Once the man wakes up, we should ask where his village was located, and see about what we can find of use to us from the remains. Perhaps a scent trail to follow." Miroku explained, looking to Inuyasha for his input.

"Won't catch me complaining. I've got a bone to pick with that sorceress as it is." Just the thought of that bitch had the hanyou's blood boiling, and he instinctively cracked his knuckles in anticipation.

"So it's settled then. We set out as soon as possible."

**-[]-[]-[]-**

Rain. He hated rain. Not that it made him any more irritated then he already had been since leaving the village, but the fact it could wash away any remains of a scent trail to follow was hardly a reason to be all cheery.

'_Keh, 'as soon as possible' my ass.' _The hanyou grumbled to himself as he and the other members of the group continued walking through the merciless, and very wet down pour gushing around them. There was no point _running_ in weather like this, and besides, Kirara wouldn't appreciate getting wet anymore then the people riding her would. Fortunately since they had decided to walk until the rain stopped, Miroku had brought along the umbrellas Kagome had left behind in her large yellow bag, but it hardly dampened the frustration rising in thick clouds around Inuyasha's overall mood. His giant scowl proved that.

Plus there was the fact how late of a start the group had gotten. To Inuyasha, it had been _ages._ The frantic villager who had been the one to tell them of their destination, (Who's name had ended up being Isamu, to which the hanyou had to stifle a laugh at) had taken nearly an eternity to wake up and give them said directions, PLUS get everything ready for the trip afterwards. Over all, it had been one thing after another before the group got anywhere near the road outta the area, and as of now, Inuyasha just wanted to punch something.

Absent mindedly, his amber glare wandered to the things around him as the hanyou walked under the cover of a clear, white umbrella that he held in his clawed grasp. (He didn't REALLY need it, but for right now, getting wet didn't really sit well with him) Everything was dripping with water obviously, but it carried the scent of nature as it drifted through his senses, the oddly calming sound of rain pounding down, as if…everything was whispering.

_Stay strong, Inuyasha. I'm with you…always…_

"Inuyasha? Are you alright?" Miroku's voice went on ignored as the hanyou stopped dead in his tracks, eyes wide and ears scanning around frantically for the sound it had heard.

'_What…What was…how…?' _This had happened before. Yesterday morning. Was he going insane? Hearing Kagome's voice so clearly like this, it was starting to freak him out.

…_**A light…**_

"Inuyasha?" Sango now spoke up, both she and Shippo also giving him concerned glances, but again he paid no attention to them.

…_**A face…**_

But then it stopped. He'd made it stop. "I'm fine," Inuyasha suddenly snapped, not bothering to look to his worried companions as he abruptly continued walking afterward. Though no one saw his face as he walked on, it was crossed with its own kind of concern, and frustration. His brow was furrowed in deep thought and his eyes were sharp with said frustration.

'_What the hell WAS that?'_

**-[]-[]-[]-**

…_**A pulse…**_

A small gasp escaped Kikyou's lips as a sudden disturbance passed through her chest. It was enough to stop her strides along the lone pathway through the forest she was walking, and place a hand to the place her heart would have been. Brown hued eyes rose to the sky as her thoughts landed to the only person she could think would cause this odd sensation of a heartbeat, a _warm _pulse only life brought those lucky enough to sense it in her state.

A faint, hardly amused chuckle left her throat as she smiled dimly. "Kagome, you are not one to give up, are you?"

The undead miko's thoughts soon traveled along the events only a few days prior, when she had sent the remains of her reincarnation's pure soul into that of Inuyasha. '_If she has not yet reached him, it is no wonder I am feeling such a sensation.' _Lowering her gaze once again to the road before her, Kikyou resumed her wonderings. '_If my theory is correct however, there is no telling how little time there is left.' _

Suddenly, one of the four shinidamachu floating around her turned its body away from its master, and seemed to be reacting to something nearby. Curious, the miko used her spiritual energy to seek out what it was the shinidamachu had detected. What she found surprised her, however only a little. '_A youkai, but not just any youkai.' _Her eyes narrowed, '_one of __**Naraku's**__ incarnations.' _The fact she had not sensed it before now was troublesome, if not dangerous.

This was worth looking into.

**-[]-[]-[]-**

"Inuyasha are you sure you're alright?" Sango pestered, some hours having passed since the hanyou's odd little episode.

Inuyasha let out a growl of annoyance. "Would you get off my back already? I said I was fine!" Honestly, one moment of silence on the road and these people were acting like he'd just woken up from a yearlong sleep!

'_Talk about paranoid.' _He grouched.

"Try to understand why we are concerned. You only react that way when you have sensed something out of place. We only wish to know what it was," Miroku voiced afterward, knowing where Inuyasha's thoughts were landing.

Amber eyes narrowed irritably. "If it _was_ important don't you think I would have _said_ something already?" His tone was stern and defensive, but hardly convincing. Even to a certain kitsune.

"Inuyasha, we already know it's about Kagome, you might as well spit it out," Shippo mumbled.

"What did you say you little piece of-"

"SO!" Miroku cut off as said hanyou was about to finish his insult, sticking his wooden staff between the bickering two dramatically. "Let's set camp shall we?" All gave him glares of various sorts, but went about doing as he said. Considering it had just rained, and there were no nearby villages that _hadn't_ been burned to the ground, it was a good enough subject change, but hardly a positive one.

This was going to be a long night.

"Inuyasha! Give me back my pocky!"

"You hardly deserve it, you pesky runt!"

A _very _long night…

**-[]-[]-[]-**

Once everyone had FINALLY settled down, Sango and Miroku had set up some blankets (Some of which Kaede had sent them along with) in the nearby cave Inuyasha had found, which was dry enough by his standards. A fire had been set up afterward, and like always, said hanyou was to guard the camp while everyone else slept.

This takes us to the present setting of things.

The small campfire was just beginning to die down a little as Inuyasha took his usual post against the stone wall behind him, tetsusaiga propped casually against his shoulder, legs crossed and eyes staring blankly in front of him in thought. It wasn't hard to figure what the subject of his mind was either, with so much silence.

The sounds and images he had seen while in that odd trance sent Inuyasha into almost a state of panic, while it had been happening. '_It was like I really heard her voice, and then…all those other things happened.' _Inuyasha would never admit it to anyone, but after that, it had felt as if his strength had also been diminished as well. As if he had walked away from an epic battle of sorts. Like always, there were so many questions and not enough answers.

There in that lonely darkness, with only firelight to comfort him, Inuyasha actually, for the first time in what seemed like centuries, felt alone with his thoughts. He missed her…Kagome. It wasn't like all the times she had gone back to her time for three days and he muttered around by himself until her return. It was almost as if…he wasn't even sure she _was_ returning this time. He wasn't sure…if he knew she would be okay.

Inuyasha found his eyes landing to the sword beside him, and gripped it with his right hand for reassurance. '_Somehow, I don't think just Tetsusaiga alone is going to fix this. It's going to take more than that. A lot more.'_

As the reddish flame continued to crackle and flicker, reflecting all its color and light within Inuyasha's golden orbs, he couldn't help but get the feeling this was bigger than anything he'd ever faced.

Whether or not it was true…

Well, that was up to how you looked at it.

_~(+)~_

**Author's Note: **Just so everyone knows, 'Isamu' means 'courage' and so, it was kind of as a joke I made that the village man's name in the story, since he was practically about to pee his pants with fear when they met him, XD.

Thanks again for reading, and be sure to keep an eye out for another update! Until then, I'll be at my computer ^.^


	10. Energy

=Chapter 9: Energy=

For the crazy amount of rain that had poured the night before, so the chaos of a northern wind measured just the same. Though the sun was brightly shining over the horizon, and the clouds were just beginning to thin out from their day long release of water that had been stored up for the season, this wind was hardly enjoyable when it wasn't just a gentle summer time breeze brushing through your hair. It was a heavy, gusting type of wind that had every tree branch jerking and being pushed in random directions. It was almost unnaturally vicious for this time of year. Of course, who better for such weather to bother then a certain raven haired girl currently trudging along, with a giant scowl across her face.

'_This is getting damn ridiculous!' _She cursed with a rage. Her newly clawed hands curled into tight fists, shaking with anger and frustration to the point her seemingly fragile knuckles turned white, not to mention her long hair kept blowing into her line of sight, earning a growl from the girl as she forcibly and repeatedly kept shoving it back behind her shoulders.

Even after she had ditched Kagura with an anger fit for ruining her opportunity to finally slay Inuyasha, It still seemed Kagome had every reason in the world to be furious or just down right angry about whatever it was that she thought about, fueled to the point she wanted to kill something, and anything that happened to have a heart beat and be in her way. However, she hadn't had such luck since her nearly conquered battle with a certain _two-timing _hanyou. Ugh. Just the _thought _of him had her eyes burning with malice, her dark aura flaring within them for just seconds at a time. After everything she had done for him, all the pain he had put her through, and every single tear she had shed in his name, he had stabbed her in the back. A cold, sharpened blade jabbed into her heart, making it leak with the cruel life blood of pain, hurt, and betrayal. She could still remember…remember the words that bastard had uttered to a nearly obvious illusion of Kikyou, who had actually been merely a shikigami.

_Kagome watched on, Naraku standing beside her, as through the thick clouds of miasma she heard the words of the false Kikyou, speaking in a tone so unlike her it was pathetic._

"_Will you join me in hell Inuyasha? Leave that girl and be with me? For all eternity?" _

_Of all the things Kagome had envisioned in her mind, of all the responses she had imagined, she would have expected a simple "Kikyou, I don't know…" Or even just silence, but instead, had come the most horrid and disgustingly cruel foul mouthed saying she had ever been forced to hear:_

"_Yes, of course."_

"You fucking BASTARD!" Kagome screamed on the top of her lungs as her trembling fist slammed into the hardness of an innocent tree trunk, causing it to shake as bunchfulls of its green leaves were jerked from their places on the branches and gently floated to the ground. She continued to do so for several minutes, until finally, the poor thing just fell over, literally uprooted by her rage.

Her breathing was heavy, her knuckles were bloody, and her arms were somewhat soar, but at least the tree wasn't in her way any longer. Everything else still was in her way though. The road, the rocks _on_ the road, the trees _beside_ the road, the wind, the cold, ALL of it, and it only left her even more enraged then she had been. However, even after knowing this, an evil smirk spread across her face, causing her brown toned orbs to flicker with scarlet.

'_Once Inuyasha is gone, I shall be free of my pain! He will pay!'_

Then, she put a crimson covered and bruised hand to her stomach where the remains of a burn mark now rested, '_And Kikyou too!'_

"They'll all _pay!_" She then ground out, her voice low and tense. Even as she spoke, her hands once again tightened into fists, the cycle of trekking along a lone pathway in the gusts of wind resuming anew. Give or take the new bruises she carried, but the tainted miko hardly felt a thing.

Hardly anything, besides the rage she simply could not forget, but forever release.

**-[]-[]-[]-**

"Well, it appears the rain has finally stopped." Miroku remarked cheerfully as the group emerged from the small cave they had spent the night in the day before. Although it wasn't exactly comfortable practically sleeping on hard and rather cold lime stone all night, it would have to do. _Besides, _the lecherous houshi smirked to himself, '_I can always ask Sango to massage my tight muscles later.'_ Oh yes, it was a perfect plan in the making.

However, unbeknownst to the fantasizing man, the taijiya beside him seemed to catch his odd change in mood. "What are _you _suddenly so pleased about, _Miroku?_" The dangerous warning in Sango's voice never ceased to frighten him just a bit, even if she didn't know _exactly _what was going on in his head about fifty percent of the time_. _

'_Although,' _Miroku pondered as he flinched away from the woman's deadly glare, '_she still might have caught my devious smirk just now'_ Oops.

"Uh, nothing! Nothing at all." He then laughed nervously. Knowing he was probably caught, he began frantically waving his hands in fake innocence to support his point. Fortunately for him though, Sango simply gave him another suspicious glare and a very Inuyasha-like scoff, and it was the end of the discussion. Miroku quietly gave a prayer of thanks to whoever had spared his life from the wrath of his strong willed fiancé.

"Will you two knock it off? We have more important things to focus on." Scolded a certain hanyou as he himself stepped out from the shadows of the cave, slipping his Tetsusaiga back into the tie of his haori as the strong morning winds played around with his silver strands. The odd gusting winds had somewhat weakened compared to their ferocity earlier in the morning, right after sunrise, but it was still a little bothersome considering it had just rained only yesterday. '_With this kind of luck maybe a hail storm will come tomorrow too. Damn distractions.' _Inuyasha then mumbled grimly within his thoughts as the group now began to saddle up the supplies to begin the trek towards the destroyed village.

Though, on an outside observance, it probably wasn't just the odd weather that had Inuyasha in such a foul mood. The hanyou had been up nearly all night pondering over his situation, and Kagome, and rather than be irritated about his lack of sleep, he was more disturbed by the fact he hadn't really gotten anywhere in his long winded (No pun intended) trail of thought; and if there was one thing he hated most, it was not accomplishing anything.

Watching as the other members of his little gang continued packing up the sleeping mats and other personal items from the night before, Inuyasha managed to catch a very stale whiff of Kagome's scent on a few things, such as her hair brush and backpack she had left behind, and the hanyou sighed quietly to himself. He missed her…he knew that, but it was only getting worse by the day, and it was getting even harder to suppress.

Drooping his ears a bit as he lost himself in the moment, Inuyasha's thoughts were only half as pathetic as they could have been, before he finally scolded himself over them. '_I'm such a sap. Kagome, you're the only person who'd make me like this'_ He couldn't help a dim smile at the thought though. Yeah, the crazy wench had changed him, perhaps for the better if he looked at it _reeaally _closely.

Just as the hanyou began to take yet another trip down memory lane however, his attention was driven else ware as Shippo cutely began to attempt at pulling Kagome's impossibly large carrying bag around his tiny shoulders. Somewhat amused at the struggling kit, Inuyasha quietly strolled over and look it quite literally off of the boy's hands and slung it over his own shoulder with one arm. "I got it" He said, attempting to hide the large smirk threatening to spread across his face. The young kitsune gave him an appreciative nod and a big smile before darting off to see what else he could 'help' carry. The hanyou shook his head, and held in the urge to slap himself, '_Yep. I'm a sap alright.'_

Sango and Miroku subtly watched on from their own tasks, and also withheld smiles. It truly amazed them how greatly Kagome had effected their hanyou friend, even if it seemed only little by little. In the end, it had added up to something pretty big. This, of course, brought on more seriousness to everyone's thoughts. Their minds once again trained on Kagome, and freeing her from Naraku's grasp.

It wasn't long after that everything was finally packed up, and the group set off. Though at a much faster pace than before (being able to fly on Kirara now), the roads were still a bit muddy from the rain, but after several hours of trudging through it, Inuyasha finally managed to pick up the scent of death, and charred wood. It would seem even after the rainstorm, the smell was still pretty strong.

'_Maybe we can find a trail after all.' _He thought hopefully, but somehow he knew those hopes were a bit too optimistic, especially given the circumstances, and who had attacked the village in the first place. Kagura was a servant of Naraku, and as such, (as much as he hated to admit it) she was no fool. The sorceress herself was a youkai, and knew of his own sensitive nose, so there was no way she'd purposely leave such a strong scent trail to follow that it would have survived the night's downpour, not to mention her powers to manipulate the wind made tracking her even harder as it was. The hanyou couldn't help an annoyed growl from rumbling within his throat at this. _Damn it. _Was all he could muster within is thoughts afterward, his eyes sharpening with annoyance as he guided the rest of the group through the roads that followed the scent trail.

**-[]-[]-[]-**

"Look! Over there!" Shippo's excited cry sent everyone turning toward the direction the kitsune was pointing to, and beheld, soon enough, the village they had sought after for over a day and a half.

However, it wasn't much of a village anymore.

Huts and various other buildings that had previously existed where broken and burnt beyond repair. Nearly every scrap of wood within the boundaries was coated with ash and blackened from the fires that had no doubt swept through the place. The small bridge that led from the road into the village over a small river was broken up, and the loud rushing of the waters as it gushed over the remaining wood made it impossible to wade through without tripping from the force of the current. And of course, the dead human bodies of countless innocent villagers, brought to such a cruel end, laying about the ground all the way across the bridge and sadly, as far as they could now see from the place in front of the bridge. They're bodies were covered in terrible gash marks, burn marks, and what remained of dry blood, some of them still wearing the expressions they had worn before death. Terror and Pain. Eyes now unseeing, lost to the world of the living so much sooner than they were meant to…

To Inuyasha, the scent of death and destruction was even more overwhelming then he had experienced in a while, considering the group usually stumbled upon this sort of thing right after it happened, but these people had been dead for nearly two days…it was enough to earn a somber expression from the hanyou. It was truly a shame, the losses Naraku had caused.

"Let's go" Sango's voice was reserved, and seemed to hide a portion of sadness in its wake as her hazel shaded eyes saw for herself the gruesome remains of yet another village by the hands of such a heartless killer. It only reminded her of her own village, where so many perished and so many homes were destroyed…and how life had never been the same since.

Though the woman's calm expression seemed to reveal confidence and inner strength, the houshi standing beside the youkai slayer knew it was all a wall Sango seemed to attempt at building around her emotions, so no one would notice. But, with his natural talent of seeing past those sorts of things, Miroku saw the grief in her eyes. Without hesitation, he offered a comforting hand to her shoulder, a dim smile of reassurance gracing his face when she turned to look to him with surprise. She wasn't on the verge of breaking down, but it still gave her comfort.

'_This is all the more reason to defeat Naraku, and free Kagome.' _She remembered with new found determination, and so, pressed on with an already wondering off hanyou just ahead of the couple, Shippo at his feet.

Said hanyou's nose was going a mile a minute as he turned his head in every direction, searching for any familiar scents besides the remains of a fire, careful not to touch anything as he did so. The search wasn't going well at the moment, unfortunately.

"Do you smell anything Inuyasha?" a high pitched voice inquired loudly in his ears as a certain kitsune jumped up on his shoulder.

"Quiet." Inuyasha snapped as he continued walking about the remains of a burnt hut, ignoring Shippo's pout-face. '_If I don't find anything, this trip will have been a complete waste of time! I'll have to search every inch of this place.' _So he resumed his sniffing until Miroku and Sango caught up with him, asking the same question as Shippo had several minutes before.

"I won't if you keep bugging me about it!" He grouched, now resorting to sniffing the ground itself for any leads, but eventually, had to stop when he realized all that he would find was burnt wood.

He stood back up to meet the eyes of his awaiting friends, "I can't pick up anything. The rain washed out whatever was here." Irritation was obviously in his voice, and a hard expression had his amber eyes glaring at whatever he looked at. "This was a giant waste of time!" He then grumbled, stuffing his hands into the sleeves of his haori in silent frustration.

"I'm not so sure, Inuyasha" Miroku spoke up, walking a few steps ahead of him. Loosening the grip on his staff just a bit, the houshi pointed the end of it to a small building straight ahead of them. "I'm sensing a strange aura coming from that hut over there."

Following the staff's end to said building, Inuyasha's expression turned more into seriousness. "Is it a demonic aura?"

Miroku shook his head in the negative "No, it seems to be more of a spiritual type, that of a houshi or miko."

"What would someone like that be doing in a place like this?" Sango wondered aloud.

"We'll just have to go and see."

Compared to the other huts, it was still half way decent looking, but far from restorable. It still stood upright, but with no roof and a warn away doorway with no cover remaining over it. Honestly, it was just an empty shell of a living space. Inuyasha wasn't impressed, but knew better than to open his mouth while Miroku was concentrating, as it seemed he was doing once they arrived. His eyes were closed, and his left hand was scanning about outside of the hut, searching for a stronger signal of the mysterious aura he was feeling here.

"It's coming from inside, somewhere covered. As the energy is still somewhat weak."

"Probably by debris of sorts" Sango pointed out as the group pressed on, a bit more cautiously now, unsure of what they'd find.

The purple garbed houshi lead the way just a step ahead of Inuyasha, as he was doing the more important work of concentrating, and just as the wooden end of his staff touched what remained of this hut's floorboards, something clicked.

Miroku's deep blue eyes widened as a pulse of spiritual energy zapped his being, a gasp following the sensation. Inuyasha was the first to pick up on his hitched breath, dog ears twitching sensitively at the sound and the hanyou's amber gaze quickly landed to his apparently startled companion. "What is it Miroku?" He asked in a combination of concern and caution.

Quickly regaining his composure, the man's expression returned to one of both confusion and deep thought as it had been, and he quickly gave the best explanation he could at the moment of his discovery. "A barrier was put here." He said plainly.

"A barrier?" Sango echoed in wonder.

"Are you sure?" Inuyasha asked curiously.

After looking about the ash thickened floor boards of the hut, Miroku's eyes landed to what looked to be a torn piece of paper stuck to the ground near what used to be the doorway. "This" Miroku began, kneeling down to pick up said piece of paper, looking at it for a moment before holding it up for the others to see "Is half of a sutra spell. No doubt belonging to someone with spiritual abilities. Apparently whatever energy was used to make it hadn't completely worn off."

"So that's what you sensed? A half used sutra spell?" Inuyasha asked half-heartedly, his tone leaning more to disappointment then actual need for confirmation. Though the houshi ended up nodding to him anyway.

All peered at the used sutra for a while until a Shippo broke the silence, "I've never heard of something like that happening before. Don't sutras usually burn up when they're barriers are destroyed?"

Miroku again nodded, "Yes, but apparently the person who cast this spell used an unnecessary amount of energy to create it, so spiritual power ended up being wasted."

Sango seemed to realize what this meant, looking from the speaker back to the paper he held, "So you think an apprentice houshi or miko made this?"

Before Miroku could respond however, Inuyasha cut him off "But why would there be an apprentice here by himself if he didn't have a master? Pretty stupid if you asked me." It was a valid point, but still led to more questions.

"Maybe there was a shrine here, but it was burned down." Shippo offered.

"It's very possible." Miroku spoke up again after some thought "But that also brings us to another inquiry. Why would someone such as a miko or houshi put a barrier around this place at all?"

Inuyasha folded his arms in little caring, "Probably to hide from Kagura while she attacked the village. Ended up all getting killed anyway though." Earning glares from Sango and Shippo as he did, this still had gotten the group nowhere of serious progress in the overall mission of things.

However, while all this serious discussion had been going on, no one seemed to notice Kirara had suddenly wondered off around the hut on her own, sniffing about the ash and dust with some odd curiosity. Eventually though, Shippo noticed her absence, searching around the room with his eyes.

"Kirara?" he called out, silencing everyone's thoughts in the process.

Sango now noticed too and spotted the currently smaller sized neko youkai nosing about a large pile of debris in the far right corner of the large room, what was once the roof no doubt, having since caved in it seemed. The taijiya then walked over to see what had perked the animal's interest so much, wearing her own expression of curiosity.

"What is it Kirara?" She asked, following the cat's crimson gaze to what seemed like just a big pile of wood, but trusting her furry companion, turned over to the two men simply staring at the whole thing and half glared at them "Well? Are you going to help me move this stuff around or not?" Snapping from their trance, both nodded nervously and set to work.

It didn't take too long to clear away the necessary amount of roof remains before Sango and the others spotted something just barely visible under the heavy amounts of ash. "What is that?" Shippo wondered aloud, peering enthusiastically at what was currently holding everyone's attention.

Inuyasha was the first to push his way closer in, and reached out to brush away said ash, and once he did, his amber toned orbs widened in recognition. "I know this scent." He remarked absent mindedly, mostly to himself, and almost instantly followed his nose until he found what he was looking for. Unbeknownst to the hanyou, Miroku also seemed to have picked up something, as his brow knitted together in deep thought and his own eyes sparked with some sort of insight.

Finally, Inuyasha pulled the mystery item completely away from its hiding place, and all eyes looked down at it as it sat withered and partially worn away in the hanyou's open palm.

A scroll. Even more interesting to note however, wasn't the rolled up parchment, but what was holding the end in place, the seal. A wax-like seal that had been imprinted with a strange symbol in its center. One, that Miroku himself knew all too well, having seen it countless times in his studies as a houshi.

A Japanese character, read and understood plainly as Seiryoku.

_Energy._


	11. Strategy

=Chapter 10: Strategy=

It was mid-morning. The sun was just starting to shine through the forest leaves, lightening their deep tone of green into more of a lime color through the rays that landed upon them. The rough gusts of wind hardly gave one time to study them clearly, however, as the branches were being jerked here and there in no particular pattern, the wild sounds of the rustling branches still somehow melodious to someone accustomed to nature's odd sense of peace. Though no birds were nearby to hear today as of yet.

Down below the canopy of now lime colored leaves, on the road, flew a lone shinidamachu, that strange howling like noise emanating from its form as it flew by, oddly empty handed of a soul orb. Instead, it seemed to be searching for something. Strangely close to the ground, only a few feet above the dusty earth under its long snake like body, the creature turned its crimson eyes left and right, up and down until somehow it knew where to look. For it had spotted a lone feather being pushed across the road side from the strong winds. Apparently having its information, to whatever it had searched for, the shinidamachu now took its leave, rising off higher into the sky and headed off at a faster pace after turning around and heading from whence it had come.

The soul carrier reached its master in no time. To one with no complex thoughts, the woman was no more than a master. No emotional attachment, simply a servant fulfilling its required purpose. Providing souls and information to a deceased miko.

Her long, now unrestrained, ebony toned hair blew wildly yet gracefully with the wind gusting past. In the traditional garb of a miko, holding firmly yet casually onto her painted red bow, a quiver peeking out from behind her, it was no wonder she could survive so long by herself. After all, in life, approximately 50 years ago, Kikyou had been the strongest miko to walk Japan. Now however, it would seem skill and spiritual strength was all she had left. Even her own soul now belonged to someone else. She was currently relying on borrowed time, and as such, made haste with whatever it was she was putting her mind towards.

As of now, that was tracking one of Naraku's incarnations, Kagura.

As that lone shinidamachu joined the other two swirling about the undead miko, it quickly glided over to Kikyou where she had been waiting, as the woman's lifeless brown eyes seemed to somehow spark with understanding and seriousness. There was a moment of silence as the creature seemed to be reporting what it had discovered some ways up the road, and soon there was a curt nod of knowing and without a word, Kikyou was again on the move, walking briskly in same direction as before, only now she was certain it was still the right way.  
As always, Kikyou went on thinking as she walked, tuning out the faint noises of the forest and her shinidamachu as they flew around her, her thoughts unsurprisingly on the past few day's events.

Since she had made her existence known to Naraku only some time ago, it would seem he had become even more determined to pull her out into the open. Or, that was how it seemed. Perhaps it was only one of the many motives the half youkai could have. Ignoring the fact Kagome was her reincarnation, the girl could also sense the sacred jewel shards, and obviously, was easier to manipulate then Kikyou, and so was more prone to be a target. Considering this, it came as no real surprise when the undead miko had sensed a strange, dark energy coming from her reincarnation. The small battle that had ensued only proved the point further, that Kagome had become another one of Naraku's servants.

Then of course, during that battle, just before it had ended, there was the matter of what remained of Kagome's pure soul. That pink orb Kikyou had been forced under the circumstances to infuse inside Inuyasha. '_It had been a split second decision'_ she recalled. With her acquired knowledge of souls, she was sure that piece of Kagome would have been lost forever had she not interfered. But now that it had been done, and things were less on the urgent side regarding that soul, it was inevitably frustrating where the consequences could lead. So many problems and after effects of a separate soul merging with that of someone else's mind and body could come about…especially considering who that mind and body belonged to. Inuyasha of all people. He was half youkai, and she -Kagome- was the equivalent of a high ranking miko. Such a mix could end up being deadly for the both of them. Not only that, but perhaps such a thing could happen without either existence knowing of it. Even now, Kikyou was unsure if Inuyasha was aware of that small piece of Kagome resting inside some remote part of his mind. Somehow alive, and yet somehow not, calling out to him.

The fallen miko slowed her strides, thoughtfully staring at the earth she treaded as if to say, '_Then again…_'

The idea came to her oddly fast upon thinking of Inuyasha and Kagome's conflicting energies. It was true such a mixture of demonic and spiritual power could ruin what remained of either being, but however Kikyou knew it, something like that seemed highly unlikely. If a conflict could arise between the two, it would have happened the instant Kikyou inserted the piece of Kagome's soul into that of Inuyasha. Not to mention how her soul had reacted to Inuyasha while he had grieved over his loss of her. When he had murmured Kagome's name, the soul had actually inched closer to him. Kikyou smiled dimly. Yes, even under these particular circumstances, she knew in the deepest recesses of their minds neither Kagome nor Inuyasha would ever wish to harm each other in such a way as she had speculated. Perhaps if it had been another hanyou and miko, but not those two. On some logical level, if that was possible, they were meant to stay at each other's side…Kagome was to succeed where Kikyou could not.

The undead miko gave a humorless chuckle at this. '_Such is the mystery of fate_' she thought, and again recited her inner belief. _'Bonds are not meant to be broken_. _Even through death, it is impossible.'_

Putting a hand to her chest, where she still could recall the warm touch of Kagome's hand purifying that miasma from her body, that dim smile grew just a bit wider. '_Such a mystery indeed.'_

Kikyou's smile didn't last. For there was still the matter of rescuing Kagome from Naraku's grasp. Otherwise she was certain defeating Naraku would be much more difficult.

Just as her face had fallen again to its rather blank expression of thought, she felt it. A second pulse, stronger, but noticeably darker. A troubled expression crept onto the miko's face. There was only one person who such an aura could belong to.

A brief pause of consideration passed while Kikyou glanced between the road ahead of her, and the unknown shadows of the forest just feet away from her. Until her expression calmed once again, and she turned her head back in front of her, those lifeless brown orbs of hers not to waver again.

'_Now is not my time to interfere directly. They will find her on their own.'_ She reasoned, and continued her slow pursuit of the youkai incarnation without another thought.

**-[]-[]-[]-**

An unnerving silence traveled the contained air within a lone house which rested on a solid stone cliff side, the walls within it covered in shadow and banned from the daylight just beyond its ebony covers, which sealed up most of the light from the window openings.

A woman's silhouette traveled along the left wall from the dim sun light seeping through the blinds, the weight her bare feet carried with them causing the wooden floor boards beneath her to creak and bend down slightly from their obvious use and age while a thin mist-like amount of miasma circled around the hall ways, following the other pathways and turning the nearby corners, continuing on until it was out of sight.

Kagura's crimson irises revealed frustration she continually walked at a steady pace, such emotions increasing tenfold with every step her feet made on the cold floor. Cradled casually in the her hands, was none other then what she had been sent out so suddenly to retrieve during her most recent mission shortly after Kagome's 'retrieval'.

The stone.

Even in the darkness, it glimmered off of the shadows as if they were sunlight, revealing rich highlights of royal blue while the rest of it remained black. Odd symbols similar to that of some holy sutra were etched all around the gem-like item as well, as if to remain pure by the markings. For all of its apparent glory though, no aura of any kind could be felt or otherwise sensed. From anyone's point of view, it was simply what it appeared to be. A stone.

It hadn't exactly been easy to get ether, the stupid thing. Even with the helpless villagers running around in fear, not even considering what she was after, and the destroyed huts causing plenty of distractions, there was something she hadn't expected waiting for her…

_"So you're planning to kill me, are you __**houshi**__?" Inquired the sorceress in obvious mocking of the holy title, opening and closing her fan with one hand while she herself leaned against the threshold of the doorway casually, watching the human in front of her for a reaction._

_The man glaring at her was armed and ready, two sutras in one hand and his staff in the other; his body language screaming hostility. But even the simplest youkai could easily tell he didn't really have much spiritual energy. By any standard, he barely qualified to be in such a profession. "I shall offer you a warning, youkai __**scum**__," He answered "Leave the village now, and I shall spare your pathetic life." _

_Kagura couldn't stifle her laugh. "__**You**__ offer __**ME**__ escape?" Her amused face fell as she instead opened her fan in front of her face, only showing her eyes. "You're in no position to __**bargain**__!" with the emphasizing of the word, there was a down stroke from the woman's weapon:_

"_**FUJIN NO MAI!"**_

_Youkai energized blades erupted from Kagura's fans as she cast an entire hoard of them towards the human, ripping pieces of the hut and roof to bits in the process, only for all of them to miss the houshi as he expertly dodged her attacks.  
__**'Hmm, he's fast. I'll need to kick it up a notch'.**__ A smirk spread over her face at the idea. Even if he was only human, it could still prove entertaining._

_However, Kagura never had the chance as instead the man tossed his two sutras in her direction, one very nearly hitting home, but fortunately they only flew past her as the sorceress dodged them. One sutra landing swiftly near on the door way, glowing for a moment, but then it faded._

_Looking to where the papers had landed, Kagura simply scoffed, turning to see the houshi breathing heavily. Her speculations on this man were correct. He did have little energy to spare. It didn't seem to be stopping him though, as he quickly raised his staff overhead and charged Kagura directly, while she blocked and dodged his swipes with the energy infused weapon with her own. _

'_**Okay, forget the entertainment. I'll just kill him now.'**__ Waiting for the right moment, Kagura saw her opening as she pushed the houshi's staff away with one mighty shove, and as he lost balance the youkai woman struck him down.  
Not even bothering to see the human fall all the way down, blood spattering from his fatal wounds, Kagura strode over to what she had come all this way for, and what apparently the houshi had been protecting. Beholding its odd appearance and markings, it seemed valuable enough._

_Casually, she reached for the item, but finding it not taking any reactions to her approach, she then went out and grabbed it, taking the stone from its little pedestal shrine like thing, and began walking out._

_However she was again stopped, as a spiritual barrier suddenly formed. Gasping in surprise, Kagura's crimson eyes flew to the sutra that had been here from earlier. No questions about what was causing the barrier now. __**'Damn that houshi, trying to trap me in here.'**__ Grumbled the woman as she pounded and fought the spiritually energized wall blocking her way, until she got a better idea._

_Eyes rising to the roof, Kagura again called her blade attack, and as the roof blew off and some of the debris fell down, the sorceress pulled a feather from her hair and flew off, stone finally in hand. Naraku's saimyosho flying nearby as always._

Recalling all of this a curt scoff of annoyance left her lips, her harsh gaze now focused on the item within her hands. '_What exactly does Naraku plan to __**do**__ with this thing anyway? It obviously has no demonic aura, so what would he possibly gain?'_ It was clear the half-youkai hadn't given her any details on the matter beyond what she really needed to know in the beginning, (his distrust of her the cause of that no doubt) but natural curiosity was already eating her alive. A tilted smile graced her face, '_Guess I'll just have to ask him.'_ Why not? She was going to see him right now anyway.

Kagura's attention was once again diverted ahead of her, to the slide open door she had been heading towards since she had acquired the stone. Naraku's hiding place, put simply. No one but his incarnations knew of this location, and as of recently, another had become aware of its existence. That was for another afternoon's musings however, as the sorceress now took a brave step forward into the room belonging to the nightmare of nearly every person in the region.

Naraku.

The enclosed and private living space was fairly large, given how small the rest of the house was. The ghost like mist of weak miasma swirled about as the woman's continued footsteps disturbed it and pushed it around. All the while those intense evil eyes followed her every move, until Kagura stood before them stone in hand, while her heart was held within her master's own.

"I see you have brought what I asked for, Kagura," Naraku stated in that same smooth tone, his voice always so calm and confident. One of the many things to fear about this person. This person she still believed would one day fall.

Kagura's face loosened up as she scoffed, holding up the stone in her right hand for him to see clearer. "Yeah, I got it," She answered, carelessly handing the item to Kanna, who had been standing quietly at her master's side. "I really don't get what it's even for." Kagura continued, "It's not like it's worth anything really."

There was silence for a moment before Naraku again spoke. "To you or I, perhaps. But this stone is valuable in its own right." Sigh. Again with the riddle talk?

"And how exactly is that?" Kagura tried again, in her usual know-it-all tone.

"You shall see," was all the answer she got.

The eerily familiar silence that followed gave everyone else the impression Naraku was quietly thinking to himself, his eyes suddenly unfocused for a moment, but it was gone the minute it revealed itself. Instead, the half-youkai turned his ice like gaze toward a darker corner of the room, nodding to someone who apparently had just arrived, loud footsteps echoing from said corner. A dull scent of caramel and vanilla wafted into Kagura's nose soon after, and with a narrowing of her eyes, the shadow came closer.

"Kagome," Naraku announced as the young woman's outline seeped through the darkness, her crimson tinted eyes glimmering as she strode into clearer sight.

"This better be good, Naraku," She rudely grumbled, folding her arms to emphasize her frustration. Kagura inwardly smirked as she spared a glance to the girl, '_She's definitely got spunk.'_

However, Naraku seemed undisturbed by Kagome's obvious attitude, and instead offered a clever smile to her. "Indeed it is, my dear Kagome." Gesturing for Kanna to retrieve the item of importance, all eyes followed her as she expressionlessly brought it between the woman and her master.

Kagome seemed instantly intrigued, as her earlier scowl melted away and replaced itself with an expression of awe, her hair flowing about as if a breeze was brushing past. There was some sort of power emanating from that item. "What is this thing?" she asked, not yet brave enough to touch it. The stone itself was also acting strangely, as its previously black/blue reflective light had began to glow a shade of purple…the same color as Kagome's tainted miko energy.

Naraku chuckled smartly at this. "I see you sense its strong spiritual aura."

Kagura's expression now revealed slight curiosity at the half-youkai's words as she continued to study Kagome's reaction to the stone,_ 'a __**spiritual **__aura? Could this mean Naraku planned to give the stone to Kagome all along because of her spiritual powers?'_

The half-youkai continued on, seeing both expressions of the women before him. "This is something called a seiryoku stone. It will aid you in your mission, Kagome."

'_Apparently he did_.' Kagura noted.

Released from her trance by Naraku's statement, Kagome simply smirked as her fingers then closed over the object confidently; nearly squeezing it as power now visibly pulsed and surged through the air and into her body. Vibrant shades of purple colored energies swirled around her, as the girl's crimson eyes now glowed with her new found power, her hair blowing furiously around her face, until the mysterious winds stopped. Kagome's eyes returned to only a subtle screen of red. Again she raised her gaze to Naraku, her smirk never having left.

"Thanks," She said smartly, then took the stone and placed it in a small pocket she apparently had sewn into her kimono prior to her meeting up with her ally.

The half-youkai then nodded. "Go near to the western coast. You will find what you seek nearby." With his orders given and stone now in her possession, Kagome simply grunted her understanding and walked out in determination.

Kagura wasted no time in revealing her questions to Naraku, turning to study his ever collected expression as she did so. "Are you going to explain what just happened?" She spoke bluntly, arms folding and eyes flashing suspicion.

The youkai man simply looked at her for a moment before choosing to answer, "I gave Kagome what she desired. It will aide in her mission to destroy Inuyasha."

Obviously. "But, if that thing had spiritual powers, why didn't I sense them?" Kagura demanded to know.

"The stone is unlike the Shikon no Tama I possess. It does not have both good and evil within it. It does not even conduct its own energy at all. It reacts off of any miko or houshi's already existing energy and increases its strength tenfold."

Narrowing her eyes subtly at this news, countless other questions ran through Kagura's mind at this point, but of course she knew better then to demand answers from the crook himself. It was a wonder the half-youkai had told her anything at all.

'_I'll find out soon enough what exactly he's up to with Kagome. Knowing him, he'll probably just end up killing her in the end anyways.'_

"You are to watch over the miko, and see that she fulfills my plans to the full," Naraku said suddenly, getting the sorceress' attention once again, apparently their earlier discussion over with.

Kagura mentally groaned at this. _'So now I'm stuck on babysitting duty. Just great._' Of course, all that came out was a disgruntled "Fine." Before she knew it, she was unfolding her arms and following Kagome's lead in walking to the exit, her meeting with Naraku clearly concluded.

Though Kanna was still present she remained silent, the small mirror she always carried held firmly between her arms. Allowing her master's ever devious thoughts to run as he stared into the silver blue framed object, the image of Kagome running at high speed through the nearby forest reflected in the glass.

'_She is indeed an asset to my plans.' _He let a casual chuckle rumble within his throat at the thought, his smirk growing wider. _'How will it play out, I wonder, for our hanyou friend to be finally slain by his love?'_ Entertaining, of course.

However, Naraku was no fool in regards to both Inuyasha and Kagome's defiant strength against his methods of torture, nor was damaging their already crumbling relationship his only motive for tainting the miko. Though he was using some of his energies to aid the girl in her new quest in killing Inuyasha, it would be a wise investment regarding other matters in the end. Naraku had made absolutely sure Kagome's purity could not be recovered once she was turned through certain actions both he and his incarnations made, so now he had plenty of time and opportunity to manipulate Kagome as he wished.

Another devious smile etched across the youkai's pale face. '_It's all thanks to you, Kikyou.'_ How ironic it was, for the previous owner of the soul Kagome now had within her, to be the one responsible for evidently destroying the remaining purity inside of it. How _ironic_ indeed. If you could call under handed scheming ironic, that is.

In reality though, Kagome herself had been the one at fault. Or rather, her instinctive use of miko energy had. Again, all according to the half-youkai's plan. When Naraku had sent Kagura and the infant in an attempt to trap the human girl in her own dark desires, he had somewhat known she would resist, and as a result plotted his way into a secondary course of action. With her mind now having been previously raided, Kagome's spiritual powers had instinctively created a sort of subconscious barrier around the remaining pure pieces of her combined soul, nearly severing the darkness from her being by sealing it out. With such a dividing line between darkness and light within Kagome's mind, it then became possible for a full severing of the two sides. However, Naraku himself, or any other youkai for that matter could not do it, or otherwise suffer a full purification from attempting to touch the holy barrier. So, he had instead used the Shikon no Tama…

"Naraku," A faint whisper of a voice spoke suddenly.

His train of thought having been broken, Naraku visibly scowled. "What is it Kanna?" He demanded. However he needed no reply, as he instead peered into the mirror the expressionless girl held between her arms.

His scarlet toned orbs brightened in intrigue. '_So Kagome has a pursuer now does she?'_ A sly grin spread across his pale skinned face. '_This shall be interesting indeed.'_


	12. Emergency

**A/N: Hello everyone! I'm so, so, SO sorry for the ridiculously long wait. Had family issues plus my exit exams to deal with just to name a few of the chaotic things going on in my life. But I'm better now, and ready to get this show on the road! Who's with me? :D**

**Disclaimer: This fanfiction was brought to you by Saria Forest14; the characters therein however belong to the lovely Ruminko Takahashi. Now back to the show! **

_**~(+)~**_

=Chapter 11: Emergency =

During the past couple of minutes, all they had done was stare. Even now the air seemed to fill with a strange sort of dread as the silence wore on, four pairs of eyes taking everything in with various expressions of wonder, confusion, and irritation. No light of either recognition or insight flashed before anyone's gaze.

Out of all of them, Miroku seemed the most troubled. Being the leading strategist of the group, he was usually the one to think of answers, but he just couldn't seem to grasp _why_ a word like _Seiryoku _would appear on some ancient scroll in a small out-of-the-way village. It clearly had some kind of significance, given the circumstances. But with such a vague implication and usage of the word, narrowing down a theory to go on could very well take from then to Naraku's demise. Coming down to it, Miroku knew of the word, but he was taught the multiple meanings so long ago, his memory failed him. He sighed. For not the first time since his quest began, Miroku was stumped. He wasn't the only one losing patience.

"Are we just going to stand here gawking at the thing, or are we gonna open it?" Inuyasha growled. Not even bothering to pause for an answer, he moved to tear off the seal on the scroll currently in his right hand with the other claw, hearing too late Miroku's warning of,

"Inuyasha, don't!"

The instant Inuyasha's youki energized talons made contact, a bright flash of light enveloped the room, sparks of spiritual essence burst from within the markings, a loud yelp of shock coming from Inuyasha as he felt the jolting sensations eating at his flesh from the apparent purification. Jerking his hand away as quickly as he could, Inuyasha growled low in his throat as the rolled up paper fell to the floor, his fingertips simmering with colored smoke from the burn marks now across his skin.

"What the hell was _THAT_?" He angrily yelled, cradling his charred hand with the other.

Sango's eyes widened in surprise as well. "There's a barrier cast on it?"

Miroku let out a quiet exhale as he bent down to pick up the object from the ashy floor of the hut, "Inuyasha, did you honestly expect to be able to open something like this given the fact you're half youkai? You had smelled the spiritual essence only a few moments ago did you not?" It was a rhetorical question, but Inuyasha still huffed and stubbornly folded his arms in somewhat of a pouting stance as he mumbled incoherent excuses. Miroku went on, "If my guess is correct, this particular seal was designed to repel all but those with strong spiritual powers. Even to the point a normal human wouldn't be able to remove it, though I doubt they'd feel anything like what you just experienced." Miroku explained, turning to the hanyou as he spoke the last part.

"Keh! What good is that damn thing if we can't even open it?" Inuyasha griped.

"Can't you, Miroku?" Shippo asked hopefully, looking to the houshi as he asked.

The man shook his head, much to the kit's disappointment. "I don't believe so. Only someone with natural talent such as Lady Kikyou or Kagome could have a chance at it. I'm simply not strong enough to overpower the seal on my own."

"Then what should we do with the scroll, if none of us can break the seal?" Sango inquired.

Inuyasha huffed, "Leave it here, obviously! The thing has no value to us, and it's not like Kagura's stink is all over it." It was clearly what he had been thinking the entire time. The moment he'd picked up the scent of holy energy Inuyasha had been just as curious as the others were now, but after some closer inspection there was nothing else to learn about this whole thing besides the obvious. It wasn't strange to have a houshi or miko live in a village like this one, so in his eyes he didn't get all the excitement. He couldn't speak for the others, but _his_ concern was anything in _direct_ involvement with Naraku or Kagome's whereabouts and right now, there was nothing left to keep his attention.

"I can't shake the feeling there's more to it than that." Miroku then concluded, breaking into Inuyasha's thoughts. "I don't see any harm in taking the scroll along with us back to Lady Kaede's village. Perhaps she can shed some light on the situation."

Unfolding his arms at this news, Inuyasha's previous expression of irritation shifted into one of determination "Well then let's go already! Nothin' more we can do here anyway."

Something else occurred to Sango at that moment. "What about the stone Isamu had told us about?

"And all the villagers who died?" Shippo added, jumping onto Sango's shoulder as he spoke.

Miroku gave a curt nod to them both, "I was just about to mention that myself. Before we leave we must lay all the deceased villagers to rest first and foremost. It's the least we can do for them given all they had to suffer, allowing Isamu himself the chance to pay his respects. As for the stone, we can keep an eye out for it while we do our task."

Though some impatience shown through his eyes as he heard the final say, Inuyasha knew better than to argue about it. After all, even those of youkai blood knew the importance of paying the dead respect. Looking for the stone while they buried the humans got both objectives done at the same time anyway.

"Hmph. Fine, houshi. We'll bury them." Inuyasha agreed with a begrudging tone, folding his arms "But after that we head _straight_ _back_ to Kaede's. Got it?"

"Of course, Inuyasha." Miroku conceded. In all honesty, he had been expecting a bit more of a protest from the hanyou, especially given the circumstances. _'Inuyasha has certainly changed. Perhaps we have all underestimated the strength of his heart. I'm sure Kagome would be proud of him.' _A small smile made its way across the houshi's face at the idea.

"Oi, Miroku! You comin' or what?" Inuyasha demanded gruffly, having been the last one waiting for Miroku while he had been distracted. Somehow amused with the situation he let out a breathy chuckle, nodded, and followed his other companions out.

Such a task like burying an entire village population hadn't been easy, no matter how many times they had done it before. With everyone dividing up the weight evenly however, things moved at a steady pace. Each person was given a specific task. Miroku and Sango dealt with the grave digging, Inuyasha brought the bodies, and Shippo provided tools and flowers to mark the graves when it was all said and done. They didn't finish until well after evening came.

All had been pretty eager to set up camp by then, and after a bit of arguing/forceful persuasion by both Miroku and Sango's hiraikotsu, Inuyasha conceded to staying put in what remained of the village. The weather seemed warm and dry enough to sleep under the stars come nightfall, so any further travel could wait until the morning.

Before pulling out any futons or blankets it was discussed who should hold onto the sealed scroll for safe keeping until they reached their destination sometime between tomorrow and the next day. Miroku was the practical choice, given he was the only member of the group left with spiritual powers, and wouldn't be harmed by the spell-bound item. _"You better hold onto that thing like your life depends on it, houshi."_ Inuyasha had stated coldly, glaring at the parchment in the man's hand. No time or energy was wasted on making a fire afterward. Bodies sore and worn out as they were the humans fell right out, leaving their trusty hanyou 'guard dog' to keep watch in a nearby tree as he had stated he would.

Upon the moon's rising Inuyasha found himself sitting alone in the silence of the night, staring up into the black starry sky with a rare sense of awe. Though the weight of Kagome's absence was constantly on his mind whenever he had times like this to think to himself, he tried to keep his thoughts elsewhere for fear of pointlessly depressing himself. Instead he wondered just what kind of connection Naraku could have to the scroll they had found, as he was sure the others had already done earlier.

'_What had Kagura come to this village for? If it wasn't the scroll, or anyone who lived here, what was the point?'_ He found it hard to believe that strange stone the villager Isamu had mentioned was the cause either, if it didn't have any demonic capabilities, there was no reason for Naraku to want it. The only detail that could say otherwise was that no one had ever found the stone while they buried the villagers. But if it was _just_ a stone like what Isamu had claimed, it had probably been destroyed by the fire like everything else…right?

Inuyasha shook his head, growling and shuffling a bit in his seat on the tree branch. _'Hell if I know'_ If there was anything positive that came from this however, it was that they still had something of a lead. For now.

Inuyasha hadn't been pondering very long when a strange scent reached his nose from the shadows some ways away, said appendage twitching from the sudden disturbance. Turning his head as the scent intensified, his hand instinctually went to Tetsusaiga's hilt. _'A youkai?' _He wondered. Inuyasha took in a deep breath, '_definitely youkai'_. He had to admit its scent was a bit different than what had been expected. It was entirely animalistic instead of partially humanoid. Kirara's low growling told him she too had noticed.

Scanning the distance, Inuyasha growled quietly in frustration _'I knew we shouldn't have stayed so close to the village! The lingering stench of blood must have attracted youkai here.'_ Even if there was only one here now, more were bound to come later. With Miroku and Sango a bit weaker than usual, even the smallest miscalculation could be dangerous if this turned violent (which it probably would). He could hear Sango and the others just rousing from sleep from the small disturbances, and at the same time picked up the sounds of more rustling in the bushes. _'Definitely more than one out there.' _In fact, from how much noise there was, Inuyasha could only guess it was a whole pack about to come at them.

Not wasting any more time the hanyou silently jumped from his perch in one bound, landing a few feet away from Sango's sleeping place, startling her. "Don't move" He whispered to the taijiya in a hushed whisper, "We're surrounded." Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sango's face become fully awake, firming with caution as she steadily nodded in understanding.

Knowing Sango would know how to handle herself from here, Inuyasha's attention went back to the impending danger. He stood tall and stiff, his senses fully alert and concentrated on the darkness ahead of him, his hand never having released hold on Tetsusaiga's hilt. His intense amber gaze searched around the clearing, his slightly enhanced vision making it easier to see the movements of the enemy, but they remained elusive. Only a sound here and strong whiff of their youkai stink there were detectable.

As the seconds went by, turning into minutes, more and more noise could be heard to the point even human ears could hear it; the quick dashes and steps crunching the leaves and other forest debris, the heavy panting from the beasts as they eagerly circled the campsite, and eventually the deathly low tones of growling.

Then it all suddenly stopped without warning. Before anyone had a moment to question it, red eyes glowed from within the shadows, revealing just how many youkai there were out there and within the blink of an eye, they attacked.

Inuyasha felt a rush of adrenaline, his heart rate picking up with the action of unsheathing Tetsusaiga in a flash of golden light. A feral snarl revealed his own beastly white fangs as he charged at the wolf-like youkai that came bursting through the clearing in what seemed like unlimited waves of fur and teeth. His bare feet seemed to zip across the field as he ran at them, his whole body bracing for impact as he raised his sword above his head, an ambitious gleam in his eye as he cried out in a thundering howl,

"**KAZE NO KIZU!"**

The earth cracked and shook with the powerful demonic energy surging through it as the attack reached the youkai, causing a deafening wail of pain from a large group of the pack until they turned to ash in the midst of the golden light. But as those ones perished, more came running out from behind the remains.

Inuyasha's eyes widened in surprise as he watched them keep coming. '_The hell?'_ How many of these things were there? Sango came from the side as she chucked Hiraikotsu at a few dozen more youkai, only to witness the same effect. What was going on? So many youkai don't usually bunch up with numbers this great (with the exception of Naraku's vermin youkai). The Kaze no Kizu combined with everyone else's efforts so far had to have killed at least a hundred or so of the creatures already!

Could they somehow be cloning themselves? It was possible, but the only reference to this was in the case of those youkai rats the Inu-Gang had fought only a few weeks ago. Even then the rats had all come from some kind of magic box that belonged to another youkai, and Inuyasha hadn't seen or smelt anything like that yet and it was too dangerous to go looking for one now. With the numbers of these things increasing so fast though, what other option was there?

"Miroku! Sango! Keep these things distracted! I gotta check something!" The hanyou called out to the duo, who were battling it out on what felt like the other side of this battlefield. He heard the two of them call out for him to be careful before he darted off further into the thickness of the forest, farther away from the center of the clearing. Inuyasha swatted off the youkai with massive swings of his sword like plants to a machete, searching for anything that could possibly be 'making' all of them come out of nowhere. A thin coat of sweat covered his body, seeping through his clothes and down his brow as he went on, slowly making his way through the pack of beasts. But Inuyasha soon realized there was nothing to be found, and he didn't have the patience or the strength to go on forever.

"I have to get…back to the others…" He said in massive breaths, ignoring the stench of blood, sweat and death around him and on his clothes. But as he turned around a few of the blue-ish hued wolves managed to jump on him while he was mentally distracted, taking him by surprise and swaying his balance. Tetsusaiga was knocked out of his grasp, and the hanyou was practically submerged in a massive wave of fur and fangs.

It didn't last long.

Ignoring the stinging pain he felt at his side from injury, Inuyasha slashed with his flexed claws and killed enough to make an opening to free himself and run. He freed himself just in time to hear a high pitched screech of sheer agony rip through the air, causing his ears to ring and plaster to his skull in his own pain. Panic surged through Inuyasha as he realized who's voice the cry belonged to. In that moment, something in him roared to life, giving him an extra boost of strength. An instinctual and entirely wild energy, to the point standing still made his entire body burn.

Not having time to find Tetsusaiga, Inuyasha impulsively jumped and dashed past the animal attackers, now smelling another's blood in the air, one of his own. A lot of it. "Damn it Shippo!" Inuyasha snarled aloud, subconsciously hoping the boy would hear him over the loud barking and howling. He felt the adrenaline pumping through his body as he visualized all the horrible implications that one scream could possibly mean, his speed picking up with every step racking across the forest floor.

Inuyasha eventually picked up the faint traces of Sango and Miroku's scents which were mixed with small amounts of their blood. His anxiety increased until he caught sight of them fighting their way to meet him, and realized they had only received small injuries. As he got closer he realized they were riding on Kirara's back. They weren't planning on _running away_ where they?

Miroku's outstretched hand answered his question. "Ask later!" was all the houshi said as he grabbed ahold of Inuyasha's arm before he had time to retort in protest, all three of them rising farther and farther into the distant darkness beyond. It was then another thought came to mind.

Inuyasha had forgotten to grab Tetsusaiga.

_**~(+)~**_

**A/N: This would be one of those awesome 'Oh CRAP!' moments XD I want to take this ending paragraph to thank my friend Rhiannon for giving me help with the grammar and other typo corrections. You deserve a cookie! LOL.**

**Thanks for reading! Stay tuned ;D**


	13. Bitter Blood

**A/N: Alrighty folks, this is where the fun begins. That drama category I've put the story in? Yeah you'll see this is one of the bigger reasons why. Skimming is not recommended for this one. Seriously.**

_**~(+)~**_

Chapter 12: Bitter Blood

His bright emerald eyes were wide with shock as Shippo stood unable to move, his bushy kitsune tail quivering with the rest of his tiny body. The moment he had been forced awake by both Miroku and Kirara, he had almost immediately picked up the sense of danger in the air.

Shippo didn't know what exactly was coming at them, but from how stiff Inuyasha looked standing some ways ahead of them, it wasn't good. The ears atop the hanyou's head were flicking in every direction, his nose twitching from some sort of disturbing scent in the air his keen canine senses could detect. He faintly heard the panicked cries between Sango and Miroku to ready themselves and get into a battle position, the taijiya taking a defensive stance, creating a makeshift shield with her Hiraikotsu a few steps ahead of the central campsite. Miroku took his place beside her, his shakujo at the ready along with what smelled like exorcism sutras hidden inside his purple robes. It wasn't until Kirara stood protectively at his side in her larger form did Shippo come back from his fear-inspired trance, just in time to see for himself what exactly was coming at them.

Wolves, or something that both smelled and looked like wolves. The only difference he could make out was the blue coloring of the canines and the odd, very wild and beastly scent they carried as a united pack. Seeing the blind blood lust in their eyes nearly made the poor boy faint as he screamed and wailed with fear to the point he could smell it in his own scent as he scurried closer into the safe haven under Kirara's belly. He shut his eyes tightly as he felt his entire body shivering, his small arms covering his head in attempt to make himself feel safer.

The ground beneath him was suddenly vibrating beneath his pawed feet as Shippo heard Inuyasha release his signature Kaze no Kizu maneuver, Shippo's eyes opening out of curiosity to see what was happening. The golden light shined on his face as he heard the pained howls of the youkai wolves, seeing a couple dozen of them vanish into thin air and turn to ash. Forgetting his fear for a moment, Shippo stepped out of his neko friend's protection and jumped into the air with a victorious cry of, "You go Inuyasha!" but it was short lived.

Only seconds afterward more blue creatures sped into the clearing from beyond the thickness of the deeper forest, sending the kitsune into another fear fit, crying for somebody to take them out. Sango then hurled her own attack at several of the oncoming youkai only to stand still in surprise. Why weren't they dying off? What was wrong?

As the beasts kept on coming, Inuyasha called out for Sango and Miroku to keep them busy while he 'did something'. A bad feeling crept into Shippo's gut at hearing this, but there was no stopping Inuyasha as he disappeared into the forest, slashing some of the youkai as he went.

"Be careful!" Shippo heard the fighting duo call out to the hanyou over the growling racket the youkai were making. As soon as Inuyasha was out of sight the wolves came straight for the core of the clearing, where he and Kirara were standing. The pyro feline tensed above him, and Shippo could hear her deep threatening growl rumbling through the air. The beasts paused their pursuit for a moment at this, probably deciding if they could take Kirara on or not, but then one of the pack members' noses twitched and its crimson red eyes focused on him. Shippo's entire body froze. _'O-oh no!' _

But Kirara took a powerful step forward, baring her large feline fangs with a jaguar-like roar, clearly stating for the wolves to fuck off. The pack only barked back, no longer willing to acknowledge her dominance. After a few seconds of hissing and growling between them, three of the group lunged. Shippo cried in alarm and Kirara jumped half way to meet them, her massive claws outstretched. She kicked and scratched as the entire force of canines came at her, covering her on all sides. One was nipping at her feet while two others attempted to knock her over from both sides. There were just so many of them that even between Sango, Miroku and Kirara it was beyond overwhelming! And with Inuyasha kami knew where, the only thing capable of taking these things out was the Kazaana.

A particularly loud rumbling sound took Shippo from his frantic thoughts, and it was then that he realized Kirara was no longer able to protect him. His eyes grew impossibly wide as the massive animal hovered over him, its eyes clearly stating what it intended to do to the quivering kitsune. Its teeth were dripping with saliva, and its body stunk of death and blood. This wasn't looking good. His fight or flight instincts kicking in, Shippo had no choice but to make a run for it. Screaming and waving his arms like the prey that he was, he had no complicated escape route in mind, only thinking over and over that he HAD to get AWAY from here!

Almost instantly the wolf behind the boy gave chase, its own instincts telling it this was a potential kill and equaled dinner. It leaped and snapped its jaws with loud barking noises, instilling sheer terror in its prey as he sped through the battlefield, unaware he was getting farther and farther away from potential rescue.

'_Somebody HELP ME!' _Shippo thought frantically.

Finally, as fate would have it, a loud and abrupt strike from some sort of projectile zipped right past the kitsune and into the eye of the animal perusing him. Out of genuine surprise, Shippo stopped in his tracks as his tiny fox paws skidded into the cold earth under him. Upon turning around, he saw his attacker yowling and squirming in pain, its left paw scraping at the arrow embedded in its eye. Horrified, Shippo went to keep running, only to ram face first into a pair of human legs.

Falling onto his butt from the force of his collision, Shippo grunted in minor discomfort as he rubbed his face. Assuming he had run into either Sango or Miroku he opened his mouth to profusely thank the person who had rescued him, until he fully opened his eyes and looked into the face of the person standing before him, her eyes glazed over in red as she wordlessly raised her claws to him.

Shippo screamed, and knew no more as the world blackened around him.

**-[]-[]-[]-**

"Can you pick up a direct trail Inuyasha?" Sango asked in a panic, Miroku still holding onto the hanyou for dear life as he dangled at Kirara's side, as there was no room for him on the neko's back.

It took a second for him to reply, having to double check his earlier decided answer the last time he had been asked. "No. I've completely lost it." Inuyasha stated, the frustration he was feeling clearly evident in his firm tone of voice. "I swear he was only a few yards away from me when it happened! Damn it!"

Miroku, who had been mostly quiet as a mouse this entire time saw the need to intervene. There was no room for anyone to get overemotional at a time like this. "You can't blame yourself. The carrion youkai just took us by surprise and outnumbered us. It would have been impossible to keep a sharp eye on Shippo in all that chaos."

Inuyasha growled his disagreement. "That's a load of bull and you know it!"

Sango groaned aloud "We are _not_ doing this again! I can't exactly whack both of you over the head with Hiraikotsu without all of us falling to our deaths."

An awkward silence settled in for a moment before Miroku's calm tone startled it away. "I never apologized."

Sango turned her head slightly to the side as Inuyasha looked surprised. "What?"

"For our argument." Miroku clarified. "I never apologized for the things I said."

Inuyasha scoffed in his casual form of acceptance. "Forget it. It's in the past."

Miroku visibly relaxed as much as he was going to under the circumstances, and smiled dimly to himself. To Sango's own surprise he turned his expression to her, and nodded in her direction. Though the taijiya didn't quite understand why at first, she figured he was also apologizing to her as well. She reflected his expression as best she could before turning the discussion into something more serious, "So you think Kagome was the one who attacked Shippo and took him?"

Miroku's face fell and hardened at the subject change. "I can't say exactly, but the abrupt presence of her tainted aura seemed more aggressive than usual and it was right before Shippo screamed. I can only imagine what happened."

The houshi felt Inuyasha's grip on his hand tighten, his conflicting emotions no doubt the cause. This was beginning to look more and more like another blood bath between the dark miko and the rest of the team. They had to get Shippo back going on the assumption he was even still alive, and if their suspicions were correct and Kagome was the one responsible for the kitsune's injuries, something would have to be done. Everyone there had been forced over the few minutes they had been up in the air to come to this unfortunate conclusion.

Kirara's sudden bizarre behavior took Sango from her own thoughts in the silence. "What's wrong Kirara?" She asked soothingly, putting her open palm on the feline's neck. Kirara only jerked her head between her left and right taking no note of her mistress' inquiry, nose noticeably twitching. Realizing what was happening, Sango whipped her head around as they began to rapidly descend, "Brace yourselves!"

They all cried out in surprise and alarm, Miroku accidentally losing his grip on Inuyasha, sending him flying into the forest, zipping farther and farther away from the rest of them. "Inuyasha!" Miroku cried upon realizing his mistake, only seeing the hanyou yelling as he continued to fall in the complete opposite direction midair.

Miroku's attention was forced elsewhere as he and Sango neared the ground, approaching a massive pile of plants that smelt suspiciously like…catnip? Oh great. They landed none too gracefully into the pile as Kirara transformed into her smaller self and went about rubbing and rolling in the stuff like there was no tomorrow. Sputtering and brushing the leaves off of themselves, Miroku and Sango exchanged a look. Someone had purposely tried to separate them from Inuyasha. Again.

Sango was the first to stand up, taking Miroku's hand and pulling him up as well. "We need to find Inuyasha." She said with both conviction and urgency.

The houshi nodded to her, turning around and taking the delusional feline away from her ecstasy and into his arms. Realizing the drug-induced spell she was under would take a while to wear off, he heaved an exhausted sigh. "We'll have to go on foot." He grumbled, his stature drooping. Working with only a few hours of sleep was going to make all of this SO much fun.

Nothing more was said as they began their walk blindly through the forest, having no other option but to call out the hanyou's name in hopes his keen hearing would find them.

Some miles away, Inuyasha had found himself falling through dozens of sharp tree branches scratching up his face and arms until he landed fully mangled onto the hard ground. He laid there for a good thirty seconds groaning in pain. It was better than falling to his death, as he was sure he would have if he were a human.

Once the immediate shock of the situation was over, he pushed his face off of the ground and with a dog-like shake forced the remaining twigs and leaves off of his clothes, inspecting the damages all across his bare skin. It stung in some places as open cuts began to bleed freely and ooze down his battered skin; Inuyasha rubbed off what accessible blood he could with the sleeve of his fire-rat robe. The sensation and strong aroma of the thick fluid irritated him. It was an odd quirk of his, seeing and smelling his own blood. It both disgusted and secretly worried him.

Once he saw his wounds weren't too serious thanks to his hanyou durability, Inuyasha turned his attention to his immediate surroundings. He had landed in a particularly thick part of the forest, and was surrounded by large bushes and tall trees. He could hear both close and far away bird song as he looked up at the canopy of leaves above him, noticing the large hole in its barrier of greenery, no doubt where he had fallen from. Some dangling leaves from the torn branches were still falling down and onto his head, which he promptly swept away. Then he remembered the others.

Standing up and dusting himself off one final time, he straightened up and took a particularly deep breath though his nose, his eyes closed in concentration. After a few seconds of holding his breath and going through the many other unimportant things he could smell in the forest, Inuyasha soon realized he couldn't pick up either Sango or Miroku's trails. It didn't really surprise him, actually. They had fallen from the sky, so it was unlikely he'd pick up anything useful from the ground however many feet down from where he had last seen them.

Exhaling with a sigh, Inuyasha realized for now that they would just have to deal with being separated and look for Shippo though their own methods. It wasn't too big of a problem, since he knew Miroku could find Shippo through Kagome's spiritual energy and he as a hanyou could focus on the scent. That was when it hit him.

'She…She planned this. Kagome wanted us to all get separated.' The wheels in his head began to turn frantically as he began walking at a faster pace, staring at his feet as he did. 'And the only thing that could knock Kirara out of the sky like that, is that weird plant stuff from her era!' That proved it. Kagome was the one responsible. But then, that would mean that she also hurt Shippo. Inuyasha stopped his strides, a painful ache in his heart causing his eyes to shut in a wave of intense frustration. How could she do this? Going after him he could understand, but Shippo?

"Why...?" He murmured weakly to himself "Why would you DO this Kagome? What kind of animal has Naraku turned you into?"

Lost in his emotional unraveling, he only had a second to twitch his ears at a strange sound behind him before Inuyasha received an unexpected answer from the woman herself. "The best kind, of course."

Whirling around in surprise, Inuyasha's eyes widened in shock as the scent of Shippo's blood reached his nose like a suffocating smoke to his senses. Kagome's claws were covered in the boy's blood, and she didn't even flinch at his horrified reaction. In fact, she was smirking evilly at him, sickeningly amused. She still wore the dark and battered kimono from their last 'encounter', some new rips and tears on the bottom from over use. Her previously well combed raven locks were matted and greasy, circles under her eyes and yellowed teeth revealed through her smirk as it grew into a full on grin. To Inuyasha, she was the image of true possessed insanity.

"Kagome…" His voice broke with emotion as he saw her battered state, his eyes misting with pain. He honestly didn't know if he should be enraged or saddened at her gory appearance. Either way he still had to ask, "What have you done with Shippo?" His voice was a bit more firm at the demand, but not by much.

Kagome's grin widened as she strode closer to him in a taunting manner, speaking through her body language she felt very pleased, seeing him struggle and squirm in her presence. "Oh that little squirt? I dumped his pathetic hide in a ditch only a little while ago. He's probably still there, getting eaten by maggots or something." Inuyasha found the nerve to stiffen and growl at her words, unsure if he should believe what she was implying, but otherwise he remained silent as the dark miko went on "But is that really so important? You must have figured out all of this was a set up by now."

Only partially understanding what she meant, Inuyasha gave her a quizzical expression.

Kagome saw this and rolled her eyes in annoyance, mumbling 'pea-brained mutt' under her breath which Inuyasha heard with a slight cringe. "Where do you think all those carrion youkai came from? How else would I get all of you so distracted so I could end up taking the weakest member of your little 'gang' and use him as bait to lure you out here?"

Inuyasha's eyes widened as she spelled it out for him. Everything…everything had been a trap. But then for them to even come out to that village, it would mean… "What about the villager who came asking for help? Was he a part of your_ trap_ too?" He ground out, his rage slowly beginning to overpower all else in his mind.

"That guy? No, not really. I just improvised on what Naraku had already created with his own agenda. Turns out I'm pretty good at thinking fast on my feet. But then, you would already know that wouldn't you?"

Getting his answers Inuyasha couldn't take any more of this game she was playing with him, "Enough!" He shouted angrily, both hands balling into fists even as his eyes clouded and darkened over with his inner conflictions. If Kagome were any other person fucking with his life and his human feelings, taunting him and mocking him like this, Inuyasha wouldn't have hesitated in promptly cutting their damned head clean off their shoulders. But, he couldn't do that. Not to her. It didn't matter how evil she was, this person was still his Kagome. His best friend, to whom he owed everything that he was, his very life. He…he couldn't stand up to her like this. It was, it was too much even for him.

Kagome paused her teasing to study his expression as he snapped at her, looking into the windows of his soul. She saw it all. She saw what he was thinking and feeling, but instead of feeling anything close to remorse in turn, she only laughed. Yes LAUGHED at him. At his pain, at his suffering, and inevitably, at his hidden feelings for her. In her tainted heart, blinded by the darkness Naraku had put there, she felt a corrupted bliss to finally be witnessing Inuyasha's unraveling. Kagome felt powerful to be the one causing it, and relished in seeing him quiver before her in such a pathetic manner, like a beaten puppy. Her revenge was not far off. In fact, she could almost taste it.

"If it is so unbearable Inuyasha, why keep fighting and pushing off the inevitable? Why not just kill me, and end it all?" She spoke, her voice oddly serious.

There was a strained pause at this, Inuyasha just looking at her in all his battered pride and being. Studying her, and thinking of the right way to word his next statement. His fisted hands quivering at his sides, sweat sliding down his brow, and his entire body both tense and aching as he searched deep within his soul for the courage, for the strength to stop all the secrecy and let it out. Even if it meant nothing to her now, it meant the world to him.

Taking in a calm and forced breath, Inuyasha blinked slowly as if to pause the flowing of time around him, knowing this could very well be his first and last confession to the world, and ultimately to even himself as he spoke the words that could rattle the dust from the earth where he and Kagome now stood.

"Because I love you."

_**~(+)~**_

**A/N: Did I tell you, or did I tell you? ;P **

**Let me know what you guys think of this crazy turn of events! Who knows, maybe I'll update even faster? Yes I'm bribing you.**

**Stay tuned everyone!**


	14. Going Deeper

**A/N: **While I was writing this I could have SWORN I heard movie trailer music playing in my head. Tells ya how into this story I am eh? And now we finally get to see Kagome's reaction to that epic moment last chapter with Inuyasha FINALLY confessing, so I hope this is what you were hoping for.

_**~(+)~**_

Chapter 13: Going Deeper

"_Inuyasha is still unsure of what he desires, but __**we can't**__ get through to him! __**Only**__**you**__ can stop him." Those words seemed to hang in the air as they reached a very stunned young miko, who herself remained shackled by magical pink binds at the sorceress Kaguya's hand. She looked at the man speaking; his form lay out on the ground, shriveled into a tiny ball as he internally squirmed with pain from the wound the possessed Inuyasha had inflicted to the left side of his chest. Miroku._

_Kagome continued to stare unblinkingly into something between consciousness and space, almost second guessing what had been implied as she realized the immense amount of pressure being put on her weak human shoulders. Inuyasha's very being depended on how persuasive she could be, and she couldn't help having doubts. Besides, even if she did hold such a power over the hanyou, how was she supposed to reach him in the first place?_

_As the human reflection of Inuyasha began to pulse with particularly strong surges of demonic power within the confines of that kami forsaken mirror, Kagome cried out in time with them, pleading with tearful cries for all the pain being inflicted upon the hanyou to stop and for him to return to his former self. Her cries only ceased when a small spark crossed her mind. Looking down towards the source, Kagome realized the jewel shards still hung around her neck, glowing with their usual untainted light. Forcing her emotions to quiet down, she remembered Shippo was at her feet and she quickly told him to take the shards from around her neck and toss the small bottle at her, which the kitsune did without question. _

_Staring at the glass container with confidence, Kagome watched it collide with the swirling energies of the imprisoning spell keeping her hands and ankles in place until she was forced to shut her eyes from the purifying sensation as it fought to break her free. Eager enough as it was, the moment Kagome felt her magical confines begin to slack she pulled herself loose, just in time to hear yet another agonized howl from Inuyasha as he continued to struggle under his own spell. _

"_Inuyasha!" She cried in panic as she ran to him, her own safety forgotten as she embedded her face into his chest, feeling his unnaturally fast heartbeat pound against her cheek. "Inuyasha, I'm begging you! Please don't change!" _

_The contact only seemed to anger Inuyasha's rousing youki more, his hands flexing enlarged claws as he continued to madly toss his head this way and that, snarling and growling as his eyes soon revealed those demonic red irises instead of his warm amber ones. Witnessing this, Kagome's hopes of saving him grew even dimmer than they had been at the start. Yet she somehow ignored Kaguya's taunting remarks of her efforts being in vain, instead racking her brain for some other way to snap him out of his transformation. It had to be something shocking, and something she knew would call out to the real Inuyasha inside this feral beast…and then she knew. It was beyond risky and could easily get her killed in more ways than one, but it was her last shot._

_In a wave of pure desperation and emotion, she pressed herself as close to his beating heart as she could get, crying out at the top of her voice,_

"_I love you as a half demon, Inuyasha!"_

The memory came flashing back across her mind's eye like a whirlwind strong enough to stun and kill, the way it froze both her mind and body, forcing her to hear the echoed voices belonging to the world of her past. Every footstep, every cry and tear she had shed in the name of the man standing before her she remembered. For the briefest of moments, Kagome felt no rage or hate. Instead, she only felt something akin to emptiness. As if she were unconsciously reaching for a massive gap in her being, a hole where something soft and warm should have been. It seemed as if her physical body somehow portrayed this, her posture beginning to slouch with exhaustion that seemed to come out of nowhere.

Her unkempt hair began to sway with a small gust of wind that found its way into the clearing both she and Inuyasha were standing, and with it calm set in. A rare type of silence that was neither comfortable nor awkward, just what it was, soundless and void of the usual depth.

In the same heartbeat Inuyasha stood across from the dark miko, unknowingly entrapped in his own wave of confliction. He watched Kagome with an uncertain intensity in his eyes, incapable of speaking or anything else as he witnessed the dull look on her face and the lifeless stance she had taken on. In all honesty, the hanyou had expected her to rise into a blind rage and rip his face off for saying something so close to home. After all, he had known for quite a while the real Kagome had developed feelings for him; she had told him herself after all! In effect, Inuyasha had somewhat by accident used his (long overdue) confession as a last resort before what he knew was an inevitable confrontation between he and this cursed hybrid version of Kagome. In the end, it would come down to the rule he had always lived by since the day he was born. The instincts of fight or flight. But right now he couldn't decide on either option. There were so many factors to take into consideration, and the complications affecting both choices had his much more simple minded brain spinning like a top.

Whatever Inuyasha chose, all he could plead was that somewhere out there, Shippo was still alive. When he got Kagome out of this mess, he knew she would never be able to forgive herself if something so drastic like the kit's death came to pass at her own hand. Clenching his teeth in nervousness and building frustration, the hanyou could only pray things wouldn't come to death, for anyone.

"That…That's your reason?" Kagome's deep rumbling voice startled Inuyasha back to reality. "That has to be the most pathetic excuse I've ever heard! What are you, a human or a youkai? You disgusting whelp! An abomination so easily broken even I have surpassed you in strength!" by the time Kagome had finished, her voice was nearly cracking with overuse as she screamed and spat with such an unnatural hatred, Inuyasha could feel the dark energy pouring from her mouth with every word.

But unlike their previous encounter, he didn't allow himself to be affected by Kagome's spiteful claims. For she had been the very one to tell him such insults about his lineage were untrue, and that he was not the abomination he had once so surely believed he was. That didn't mean it didn't hurt (at least a little) to hear them, but it _did _mean he wasn't so eager to accept the hot branding of 'monster' next to his name. After all, he had just said he loved this woman didn't he? If he was going to act on such a truth, he would need to have faith Kagome didn't mean what she was saying and that deep down, wherever her true self had been sealed away, she cared for him still. It also meant he would do whatever he could to protect the person she really was, and to do that, he needed to save her from herself.

Inuyasha's face gave on a much more determined air as his stature seemed to correct itself and straighten up, his deep amber eyes staring into those of the miko before him. "Bullshit!" He forced himself to bark out with a snarl, "If you're so strong, why haven't you broken free of Naraku's spell yet?"

This one act of defiance had the wench propelling herself at him with the loudest battle cry he had ever heard her scream, creating that familiar miasma blade he had fought against before. But this time he had a bit more self-control on his side. Although a bit stiff and clumsy since recovering from his injuries, Inuyasha dodged each slash and jab Kagome sent his way easy enough. Even with such poisonous force and reflexes, Kagome was still Kagome. She remained as unmastered in close combat as she had been before Naraku had taken her. She may have gotten some inspiration to toss punches and swipe swords at him, but her skill if any rested on a bow and not much else.

It was then Inuyasha realized Ol' Kaede's wisdom of having a leveled head in battle made sense. If one was too blind to their emotions to pay attention in a fight, it would come back to bite them at some point. It certainly had in his case. But as impossible as it seemed, Inuyasha had learned from his mistake. He could now use this fact to his advantage. It was pretty easy to taunt Kagome into a blind rage based on past experience, and if she was completely overcome by her burning desire to end him, she would make a slip up in her stance eventually, leaving him an opening to either stun or knock the miko out long enough to decide his next course of action.

'_One step at a time.'_ He told himself with a quick intake of breath as he was forced to back flip away from a particularly swift blow aimed at his head.

His new found confidence wasn't the only thing differing from the last face off, if Kagome had anything to say about it. Not only had her rage been driven even farther on the insanity scale, but that new 'toy' she had received only hours ago, courtesy of Naraku, would no doubt come in handy sooner or later. Livid as Kagome was, she managed to suppress her burning desire to just end it here. A quick and sudden death was too merciful for such a cold hearted bastard such as Inuyasha. She needed to draw it out, make him beg her for mercy as his life blood went on pouring across the earth in torturous tides of pain and agony. Just the thought of it had the miko's eyes flaring once again with that deep lusting tone of red, her breath hot with the requests of her blackened heart.

With new found energy, Kagome's previously uncoordinated strikes became quicker and swifter in form as her expression of anger contorted into something so forcefully vile, even between moves Inuyasha noticed it.

In the blink of an eye, the roles of strong and weak were switched as Kagome summoned an unusually strong sphere of both demonic and spiritual energy and infused into the blade of her weapon as she raised it above her head with a psychotic laugh, "See you in hell, half-breed!"

Inuyasha's amber eyes widened as his youkai senses told him what immense amount of power was combining into this attack. But he couldn't close his eyes; he couldn't turn away.

His nose had began to burn.

Wrinkling it with distaste and discomfort, Inuyasha's eyes watered just a bit as he realized there was only one thing he could remember having smelt that caused this extreme reaction to his heightened senses. Instinctively, his inner youkai translated it for him, but it was so fast he couldn't even hear it within his thoughts long enough to process.

_Amplifier. _

"What?" He spoke in confusion to himself, but as he exhaled in speech the sword came down on him with such strength that when Inuyasha fell on his back and quickly rolled to the left side and away, the earth beside him crumbled into a massive five foot deep hole in the shape of a vertical sword slash. Glancing at the near hit had his heart nearly stopping from the shock. _'By the kami! Where the fuck is she getting all this power from?'_

But instead of showing his doubt outwardly like he had done before, he flashed a fanged smirk to cover it up, "Keh, that the best ya got, Ka-go-me?" and received another reckless swing that missed him entirely. It pained him to do it, but acting detached was the only way he could force himself to go ahead with his plan. As Miroku had once lectured, mind games are the best way to throw your opponent off balance, and that was what he was going to do whether he liked it or not.

Jumping gracefully out of the way from a direct swipe of Kagome's sword, Inuyasha laughed in her face this time "Slow and sloppy, just what I'd expect from a shard detector!"

That had to have hurt if her outraged yell had anything to say about it, lunging her whole body at him, steam practically spewing from her ears. "Shut the FUCK UP!"

He forced his smirk into a full on grin, "Make me, wench!" and after his taunt, as he had hoped, there was an opening, a crack in her form. It was only slight but it was there. _'Finally!'_ but as he curled his right hand into a tight fist to stun her, Kagome caught onto his offensive position and quickly pulled her free arm out of the way just as his fist went down. He growled in frustration and slight exasperation.

"You can't match my skill!" she snarled, not feeling calm enough to add her new cockiness into the mix as her sword continued to slash madly in her opponent's general direction and this time, it hit.

The metallic scent of blood hit Inuyasha's nose full force as it spilled before his eyes in a flashy display, his left forearm now split nearly down to the bone. He howled to the heavens in his agony, seeing white momentarily, the dark purifying energies that had once been wrapped around the miko's sword sending jolts of electricity through his body in violent spasms. Yet the hanyou remained upright.

The slight rhythm he had developed while dodging now thrown off , Kagome took the chance to cut Inuyasha's unprotected thigh, finally sending him to his knees as he growled low in his throat from intensified sensations of his inflamed and openly bleeding wounds. Body on overload, his higher thoughts ceased as he gnashed his teeth in attempts to deal with the intensity, unable to hear Kagome's satisfied laugh as her shadow hung over him in the dawning light. She said nothing as she took the time to catch her breath, but the deep satisfaction she was feeling could be seen in her eyes.

If Inuyasha's youki was purified at least for a short while, he'd die from the severity of inflicted pain. Knowing this was very possibly the end, she wasn't about to cut the performance short. Walking up to the hanyou's crumpled form as he lay on his side, hissing and cursing under his breath, she dared to kneel down next to him, placing the tip of her blade next to his cheek, lowering her face until she was just inches from his left ear, and then whispered haughtily, "You lose, Inuyasha"

**-[]-[]-[]-**

Miroku watched the night sky begin to color with sunlight in unspoken dread, his personal hopes for finding Shippo starting to wane somewhat. He couldn't be sure exactly how long they had been wandering around aimlessly searching for the boy, but considering it'd been pitch black when they had set out before, and the daylight was beginning to show itself, it had to have been at least an hour.

He shared none of this concern with Sango however, as she seemed worried enough herself. He turned his head slightly to see how she was holding up, but there was little change in her demeanor. Her eyes were narrowed in her usual attempts to hide emotion as she looked straight ahead, obviously lost in thought from the way she took little note of the fact she was being stared at.

Miroku was tempted to ask her if she was alright, but decided against it, seeing as that was a pretty stupid thing to inquire about when he already knew the answer. What else could he make conversation with to ease at least a little bit of the tension? As the houshi thought over his options, his eyes unknowingly wandered. Suddenly realizing this, a slightly devious grin came onto Miroku's face. _'When all else fails, resort to the_ _basics' _he thought to himself with a mental chuckle. But just as he was about to make his move…

Sango noticeably flinched, her head snapping to the side as she seemed to be focusing on something. "Did you hear that?" she asked, meeting his eyes as she asked.

Forcing himself not to show how jolted he was at Sango's abrupt reaction, Miroku pretended to listen for whatever it was that had gotten his partner's attention. After recovering himself, and finding nothing of immediate interest otherwise, he gave her a confused look. "I can't say that I did. What was it you heard?"

The taijiya didn't answer him immediately, but sighed when she apparently realized whatever had startled her was no longer making noise, or had never even made any in the first place. "Nothing, I guess." she said, and continued walking.

In that moment Kirara began to stir in Miroku's arms, the heavy dosage of catnip she had inhaled earlier beginning to wear off. Her small ears began to unconsciously flick in random directions, her nose and eyelids also beginning to twitch. "Kirara is coming out of her trance." The houshi stated loud enough for the neko's mistress to hear.

This stole Sango's attention again as she strode over to take the animal from Miroku's arms, setting down Hiraikotsu before she did so. Not long after, small kitten like mews mumbled out of Kirara's mouth, and finally her eyes opened, though she still appeared drowsy. Sango gave her a comforting rub behind the ears with a small smile as she turned her gaze back to Miroku. "She seems to be alright, but still not strong enough to fly us out of here."

"Do you want to keep going then?"

Sango gave the man an uncertain look but replied, "I don't see another option do you?"

So without any more discussion the trio continued the search, Kirara held with one arm by her owner, only for her to stop again. "Okay this time I'm sure I heard something!" She said with slight frustration, looking about the surroundings with unease.

Not sure what to think, Miroku simply asked what she thought she had heard.

"Howling." Sango stated.

"Howling? Are you certain?"

The taijiya quickly handed Kirara back to Miroku before she readied her weapon, "I'm almost sure of it." she said in a cautious tone as she took a stance that said she was listening for the sound again. With such silence through the forest, Miroku was able to concentrate as well. Though he still didn't hear any howling, he did manage to feel a faint youkai aura to the North West of where they were standing.

If it was wolves, as Sango was suspecting these apparent youkai to be, it was more than likely the large pack of them the group had fought and escaped from not too long ago. Had he and Sango really wandered so far? All the way back into the area they had flown from? Miroku had trouble believing it. _'Perhaps the youkai followed us by scent.' _His eyes narrowed suspiciously _'but according to Inuyasha, the beasts were carrion youkai. So why come after live prey?'_

He wasn't given the chance to figure it out as Sango notified him she could just barely pin point the direction in which the sound was coming from, and it was indeed in the North West. This could be the lead they were looking for! While Shippo had originally been attacked by Kagome from what they knew, there was nothing that said he had been taken by the miko. He could have somehow escaped, only to be stalked by the beastly youkai. Either way, it was the first clue they'd had all night.

Both he and Sango broke into a hasty sprint into the direction of both the youkai aura and the distant sound of howling, hoping and praying that if Shippo was among the wolf pack, he had somehow found a way to stay alive.

_**~(+)~**_

**A/N: **I'm just being so mean to you all aren't I? *guilty smile* Cookies to anyone who can guess what happens next!

Randomly, wouldn't it be cool if sunlight tasted like orange juice? Mmm, fruity….and only 150 calories! XD Yeah, you can go now.

Stay tuned! ^.^


	15. Overshadowed

**A/N: **Hello everyone! I can't believe it's been three months already O.O A reviewer actually asked me when I would update again and pointed that out to me. I basically went the WHOLE summer without updating! I'm SO sorry you guys! I want you to know I worked really hard on this chapter though, since I want to improve my battle scenes between Inuyasha and Kagome from here on out. It was pointed out to me the first battle was rather flat, since Inu was dodging most of the time so…Yeah. I'll shut up now LOL.

_**~(+)~**_

Chapter 14: Overshadowed

_He was…running?_

From what he could barely recall he had been in unbearable pain only moments ago, but now he was up on both legs running through the forest? Why had he been in pain before anyway? He didn't have much time to think it over.

Catching sight of a rock in his path, rather than take the time and energy to dodge it, Inuyasha decided on making a large bound from the large stone's tip. At that same moment, something came into his line of sight.

'_Kagome?'_ Dressed in the attire of a miko, she burst into the clearing alongside him, casting venomous spheres of light his way. Her expression was emotionless and otherwise empty, as if her soul had been drained away. She carried the scent of taint, and a foreign energy seemed to swirl around her. The way she moved was too agile and precise to be by her own will.

Basic instincts kicking in while his mind reeled from shock of being attacked out of nowhere, the hanyou's body made another leap off the ground to dodge the mysterious projectiles. Everything seemed to slow to a crawl right then from his point of view, staring into those red eyes Kagome now wore. '_What's going on? Why is this so familiar?'_

Inuyasha suddenly found himself dropping the short distance down to his knees, a sharp clench of his muscles coming out of nowhere as he crash landed. How had he not noticed he had a massive wound in his gut? Had Kagome done it to him earlier? Crying out from the screams of his body, Inuyasha was forced to keep himself up by the support of his open palms before he heard the possessed miko hover towards him.

There was barely time to gasp in surprise before she had her claws outstretched in Inuyasha's direction, a strong wave of dark energy enveloping him, and he was promptly slammed back against a large tree from the aftershock.

Sliding painfully down to its base he moaned in increasing discomfort, struggling to stay on his feet. Kagome was not yet finished with him. More light spheres wisped through the air, and this time Inuyasha was too weak to move out of the way.

Breaking the fabric of his protective fire rat robe, they lodged into his flesh before dissolving into what smelt like acid to his hanyou senses. Gasping for breath as the purple colored smoke rose off of his battered body, he no longer had energy to stand. With a frustrated grunt he put an arm over his wounds as he slid the rest of the way down the tree until he was practically sitting on its thick roots.

Then there was pause.

Kagome's soulless form stood a good distance from her target. One arm was fully extended outward to her right, the other extended with her hand curved as if in a praying motion. She said and did nothing for a few seconds, giving Inuyasha the chance to ask more questions, aloud this time.

"Kagome, what're you doing? Why the hell are you attacking me like this? Who's controlling you?! Answer me!" The response he got from her only made his desperation worsen.

Almost effortlessly, she pulled a leaf from her sleeve and somehow transformed it into a priestess bow and arrow, and wordlessly took aim at the hanyou's heart.

This was bad. This was very, _very_ bad. "Snap _out _of it Kagome! You're going to get yourself killed!" The moment he said so, his eyes widened despite himself. Why did he get the feeling he'd said something like that to her before? How was she going to get herself killed anyway? He was the one with an arrow pointed at him. It didn't make a lot of sense from a logical angle.

A strangled moan from his attacker brought his attention back just in time to see the arrow she had been holding in her bow drop down at her feet. Her eyes also seemed to have dulled from their crimson hue, and now seemed to be more of a maroon color. Was Kagome finally fighting against whoever was controlling her?

"I-Inuyasha _please_…get away from me." She panted, even as her body began to reach for the arrow against her will. "I have no control…over my body…I can't stop. Run, before it's too late!" She continued to plead. "Get away, before I-" Her voice sounded so weak and scared. It sent a new sort of adrenaline through Inuyasha's body to the point where his questions no longer mattered. He had to get Kagome out of this mess, whatever the hell it was, first.

"That's _enough_. I don't wanna hear it!" He snapped, unable to listen to her quiet whimpering a moment more. He heard her gasp in surprise and saw her turn her head slightly in his direction. Secretly relieved she was now listening to him, he attempted to push himself up off the roots of the tree as he continued to speak. "I'm sick of you and everyone else telling me to _run_. I'm not running! Not without you. As long as I'm still breathing, I won't leave you behind!" Again his words sounded strangely familiar, but not as much.

She didn't have the chance to respond to his heartfelt vow. Whatever hold was over Kagome began to fully overpower her again. Her body's movements became faster as she turned her head back to face the ground, and her arm that was still reaching for the arrow was no longer trembling with confliction like before.

Then a strange substance began clouding the air around them, something that appeared to be pollen of sorts. Inuyasha couldn't help but study it curiously, before a large swarm of moths began to fly into view and surround the clearing. Kagome began to groan painfully, her fingers now wrapping around her weapon and beginning to raise it off the ground. Sweat trickled down her face as she weakly continued to struggle, but her eyes gradually flickered back to that full shade of crimson like before.

"L-Listen to me, Inuyasha!" She spoke again despite it all. Her voice was noticeably panicked and taut. He focused his gaze on her through the heavy curtain of moths that flew between them, staring at her seriously. "Fight…_against_ it! Fight for…f-fight for-!"

"_What_? Fight for what?!" He pleaded her to go on, but it became clear she'd lost the strength to finish her statement. (1)

She notched her arrow, aimed, and with tears building in her eyes…

Kagome fired.

**-[]-[]-[]-**

She watched him like a feral beast studies its prey, waiting for it to either die or jump back up. She heard his agonized screams as his body spasmed from the jolting waves of dark miko energy and miasma shooting through his system. Beads of sweat were building on his face, the shock clearly taking its toll on both his human and youkai halves. She could see sparks of dark purple flash around him like a poisonous imprisonment, and relished in it. All of it. His suffering was so long overdue she couldn't help but form a satisfactory grin of triumph.

Until something even more amazing happened.

With an especially ear splitting scream, Inuyasha began changing forms. His hair began to darken and his claws that had been desperately scraping against the dirt under him were shortening and dulling, his fangs as well. He was turning human again.

'_Finally!'_ Kagome thought with sickening glee. She saw no reason to speed up the process, too engrossed in the free show she was getting. An unexpected pulse of energy caught her attention rather quickly.

Just as soon as Inuyasha had begun the change, it reversed itself.

The tainted miko's eyes widened in shock and confusion, _'What?!'_

Again the hanyou screamed, hair turning silver, fangs and claws lengthening…But instead of it stopping there, they continued to grow. Then jagged purple stripes tore their way across the sides of his face, and Inuyasha's wails turned into animalistic howls.

Horrified, Kagome actually took a few steps back, not liking this turn of events. How could he have transitioned from one extreme to the other within a matter of seconds? It was impossible, not to mention unheard of, for youki to successfully resist even temporary purification as Inuyasha was!

He continued his transformational pattern like this four more times, going between human and full youkai forms for the next thirty seconds. It got so rapid and severe he was actually coughing blood in between his cries from the extreme shifting of his internal structure and DNA.

This was nothing like the new moon transformations. What was normally fast and painless became the ultimate torture for a hanyou. Going back and forth over and over again would eventually start to cause the body to resist and react. The miasma in his system was what appeared to be triggering his full youkai form, but then it would be quickly purified by the miko energy, only start the process over again. For anyone else, it would be simply inhumane to watch such a horrible thing occur. Even the birds nearby had flown away from the chaos they could both hear and sense.

When Inuyasha started on his fifth cycle, Kagome decided it needed to wrap up. Taking into consideration the unnecessary danger she was risking if Inuyasha went full youkai permanently, even if she figured it unlikely, she raised her bloodied straight sword above her squirming target and stabbed down.

Something stopped it.

Kagome just stared blankly as she took in the sight before her.

Discolored demonic irises blazed up at her, a guttural growl rumbling in his throat as he held the flat of her blade in his two hands. He was pressing them so firmly against the metal that the edge had sliced through his skin, his palms oozing blood that ran down the middle of her weapon.

In attempting to stop Inuyasha's youkai from fully rousing, Kagome had only brought it out herself by trying to kill him. Shit.

Snapping herself out of her trance she forcefully pulled her blade back from Inuyasha's grasp, his blood splashing all over the ground as she did so. Glaring daggers at him, Kagome could feel the rage inside her building. "You-!" She barked angrily "You're supposed to be fucking DEAD! Why can't you just give UP?" And then charged him, a battle cry erupting from her lungs with such emotion it echoed into the forest beyond.

In the blink of an eye Inuyasha was on his feet and going out to meet her, but instead of dodging as expected he caught her sword full on, hitting the edge of it with a balled fist and not even flinching when his knuckles began to bleed freely.

The force of his offensive move threw Kagome back a few steps, her sword getting pushed upward in the air and stabbed into the earth when it fell back down. Anger erupted in her chest as she saw Inuyasha running towards her again, and impulsively raked her claws at him.

Inuyasha swiped an upper cut to throw off her attack then surprised her when he used his other fist to land a hit to her gut as she dodged. Thrown sideways into a coughing fit as she gasped for air, she landed on her hip and realized with frustration she was fully exposed for a full on attack.

Again Inuyasha rushed at her, but just as he opened his fist to reveal bloodied claws and raised them to her, there was a flash in his eyes. A look of foreign emotion that seemed to freeze his movements over to the core. His raised arm started to tremble and waver, as if he was having second thoughts.

Kagome eyed him curiously, but saw her opening to escape and rolled in the direction of her sword. Pulling it out of the ground she brandished it in Inuyasha's direction and wordlessly thrust it in a stabbing motion at his chest.

As her sword had begun to pierce his skin he had side stepped, causing the blade's tip to cut open his kosode and skin in a long vertical line. It was deeper than a graze, but not fatally so. Covering over the cut with his right arm, he back flipped a few feet away from her and heaved for breath, the metallic scent of fresh blood rushing up his nose.

Kagome paused her movements to see his irises were no longer that strange crazed color of greenish blue, but were instead a dull shade of amber. _'Is he trying to hold himself back now?'_ she wondered with a scrutinizing stare. If that was true she could use Inuyasha's hesitation to her advantage, take back control of the battle, and try to end it once and for all.

"Fight against it! Fight for…f-fight for-!" Inuyasha uttered tensely out of nowhere. At first Kagome figured he was trying to talk to her, but there was something odd about how he spoke. It didn't really feel like _he_ was talking to her, but more like he was possessed by something and it was using Inuyasha's body to speak. She could only assume it was his youkai, but even that didn't make sense. Kagome just scoffed disinterestedly, wondering why she even gave a shit about those things. Inuyasha was going to be dead sometime today, so anything he said mattered little to her.

"Enough!" She found herself shouting. Reaffirming her bitter emotional energy, she gripped her sword and in her desperation made a risky move. She threw her sword at him point first, like an arrow.

For some reason he didn't dodge. Instead he leaped into the air, flipped around, and grabbed her sword by the hilt midair. The dark energy that was normally infused in the sword seemed to have vanished, meaning the power it had possessed when Kagome held it could only be continually generated by the tainted miko herself through physical contact. In Inuyasha's hands, it was just a regular straight sword.

As he landed back on his feet with his 'prize' in hand, Inuyasha smirked triumphantly at the speechless girl, reading the annoyance in her twisted expression. But he didn't attack her with the blade. In stark contrast, he did the opposite.

He took the weapon in both hands and broke it over his knee, splitting it in half. Kagome just watched him stupidly as he tossed the two halves to the ground with a masked look on his face. Then Inuyasha looked at her, his shadow stretched over the ground like a cloud of pending darkness as the sun continued to rise behind him.

Inuyasha had an almost regal and very Sesshoumaru like air about him in that moment. "_You_ lose, Kagome."

Eyes narrowing at hearing the words she'd spoken to him not too long ago, Kagome couldn't help but wonder, _'Just how in control is he?' _

Such a thought was infuriating, since it implied she had underestimated the man she'd known for an entire year and thus had been defeated by him. Based on Inuyasha's recent actions it was logical to assume he was at least in partial control of himself, and this was a rather new and odd development for him based on past experiances.

The sound of an exhausted sigh was suddenly heard, breaking the silence. "There's no reason to fight anymore, Kagome."

THAT brought Kagome out of her bitter thoughts, fast.

"There is!" She shouted loudly, jumping to her feet. "There will always be a reason! So long as you're still breathing!" and without another word she launched herself at him, only for Inuyasha to grab at her wrists with his full youkai strength and hold them there, a feral growl erupting from his throat.

"_Submit,_ wench!" He snarled, sounding much more wild and aggressive this time. The amber hue in his eyes had faded somewhat as well.

Aggravated at first, Kagome realized something. _'Even if Inuyasha is in more control of this form than usual, the youkai in him is still the dominant one.'_ she couldn't help a rather lustful smile. _'If that's how he wants to play things, I'd better step it up.'_

"Showing your true colors now are you, _youkai_?" She mocked confidently, giving him a very similar look that Kikyou once had to an obsessed Naraku so long ago. "Well I'm not someone you can control!" Before Inuyasha could retaliate, she balled her hands into fists and sent a full wave of purifying energy up his arms, effectively loosening his grip.

Freed for that fleeting second, Kagome felt inside her battered kimono and something brushed against her fingers. She grinned from ear to ear, knowing this would be her rebound. Without a word she grabbed the seiryoku stone in her hand and pulled it out, its sleeping hue of blue quickly shifting to a dark purple in her grasp and held it in front of her, effectively activating it.

Inuyasha had just begun to recover from her earlier blast when massive waves of reiki pushed against his aura, and a painfully hot sensation began building within his chest. It was like before, only now it felt more like a full on purification than an electrifying attack. Growling wordlessly he pushed himself against the force of it, instinctively attempting to resist. The youkai would not allow a female to best him like this! Inuyasha's breath came out in short puffs as he pressed his feet into the ground, stomping one foot in front of the other in determined strides, trying to reach the stone and stop the amplifying process.

Kagome's eyes now shined a corrupted purple, raven hair blowing around her from the power swirling and building from the stone, her entire being pumped with adrenaline. The air instantly felt thick and heavy, the rising energies seeming to surround the forest clearing to the point even the grass underfoot was beginning to stand on end.

'_I'll show him! I'll put an end to all of this!' _She chanted in her mind, until the reiki began to slow and settle. It encircled her like a barrier, and when she met the eyes of her opponent, she laughed evilly at his strained expression. "What's the matter, Inuyasha? Am I too much for you now?"

Inuyasha snarled at her. It wasn't a matter of his strength failing or not being enough, it was a matter of how much he could allow himself to use on her as he was! All this time his youkai was roaring to either kill her off or make her submit, both requiring a large amount of force, but he'd contained those desires to the best of his ability. Even then however, there was no guarantee it could be contained throughout the entirety of the fight. There was another thing to consider too. With Kagome's new amplified abilities he was like straw being tossed toward a fire if he remained like this; there was a high risk of getting burned until he was all but useless. He had to end this safely, and Inuyasha couldn't do that as a full youkai. He needed to be hanyou again._ 'Tetsusaiga…' _

A large cloud of miasma shot from Kagome's outstretched hands, sending him flying backward with large patches of his clothing charred off. He hadn't been expecting that. _'I need Tetsusaiga!'_ He thought in panic, as more suffocating clouds of miasma started coming from every direction around him. Forcing himself back on his feet, he dodged the gases as best he could, pulling his sword's sheath from his hakama tie and raising it above his head. "Come, Tetsusaiga!" He called out. (2)

Hearing his summons, Kagome merely scoffed loudly. "What will that stupid thing do for you? You're as good as DEAD!" and this time casted large balls of spiritual energy at him.

Inuyasha grumbled under his breath, forced to dodge out of the way, only to clumsily fall on his knees. Why wasn't the sword coming? Was it so far away it couldn't respond to the sheath? He hadn't run into such a possibility before, so it was unlikely. But it would still take a few more seconds for his sword to get here if anything.

"I don't feel like toying with you anymore, inu-kurro! You'd better stop running and start fighting!" Kagome snapped as she sent various combos of miasma and reiki in Inuyasha's general direction.

At hearing the insult usually only uttered by a certain mangy wolf, the hanyou gone youkai couldn't help a subtle twitch of his brow. That kind of hurt a little. He couldn't help wondering what that canine would think, seeing Kagome in this situation. With a little bit of a competitive motivation at thinking such things, Inuyasha rolled out of the way once again to end up within range to send an attack of his own.

Realizing how close the mongrel was getting, Kagome quickly shifted to face him and sent something of a spiritual explosion made of energy, sending him flying some distance away until he ended up slamming backwards into a tree.

Not wasting any time, knowing Inuyasha wouldn't stay stunned for long, Kagome ran at him. Using access power from the stone, she created yet another straight sword made purely of miasma. Her pulse quickened at the same time as she felt energy leave her body and materialize as a type of cursed metal. She narrowed her eyes, _'This could be it!' _

In the time it took for a heart to beat twice Inuyasha saw her coming, but also managed to look over the girl's shoulder to see…oh shit.

As she raised her new blade at him, out of some sort of instinct Inuyasha hollered, "Kagome DUCK!"

She didn't know why she did it, and would never admit to doing it in that state of mind, but Kagome listened and lowered herself just enough and at just the right moment that the Tetsusaiga's pointed blade missed her by an inch, and stabbed itself into the tree trunk just beside Inuyasha's head.

Stopping herself out of sheer surprise, Kagome blinked twice as Inuyasha turned and pulled his sword out of the wood and pointed it at her in a sort of warning manner. She saw his final shift in form in barely a moment's time. She saw the shine in his true amber depths return and the confident smirk on his face as Inuyasha stared her dead on, as if something in him had finally awakened.

"Don't know about you, but I'd say things just got good."

Kagome couldn't stifle a rather unlady like growl.

With that damned sword now back in his hands, and Kagome having created a new (yet weaker) miasma blade with her power boost, things were pretty evenly matched. In that moment where neither one attacked, Kagome looked down at the seiryoku stone clutched tightly in her hand. They were_ almost _evenly matched.

_**~(+)~**_

**Notes**

**1: **Yes, I'm aware not everything in this sequence is spot on from the first movie. I did that on purpose for reasons you'll find out later.

**2: **My editor mentioned instead of putting 'Hakama tie' it was also optional to put 'obi' here, but since both make sense I stuck with my original choice of wording. Just thought I'd mention it for those more into cultural accuracy.

**A/N: **So there's one more chapters worth of battling left for these two, yes. But let me know what you thought of this section since as I added a lot of new moves, and a little bit of plot development, so I'm a bit anxious to get feedback on everything :3

**Next chapter: **_Vengeance_

Can't wait! :D


	16. Vengeance Part 1

**A/N:** Should I even bother explaining? I'm sorry guys! I hope I haven't lost any interest…I've just had my attention directed elsewhere for the last two—three months! Incase no one noticed, I've started a new story called 'Ashes' and I'm seriously in love with it and, yeah…

_**~(+)~**_

Chapter 15: Vengeance

_=Part 1=_

They ran at a steady pace side by side through the night, breathing the air rapidly surrounding them with foreboding. Between the two of them, the thought of _'get there in time'_ was chanted over and over again for each step they took through the shadows of the forest ahead. Only a few minutes had passed since Miroku had started hearing the howling for himself without having to take Sango's word for it. It had become louder and noticeably more aggressive. It had the panicked adrenaline pumping even faster through the houshi's veins, his breathing even more quick and deep as he ran. Glancing down at the still drugged Kirara held tightly in his right arm, he sincerely hoped the neko would be battle ready by the time they reached their destination. There were haunting questions that hung over his head. What if Shippo was already dead? What if he wasn't even among the wolves they assumed had taken him? What if it was all for nothing? What if—it was a trap?

As if to help answer the question, Sango ran ahead to clear away some thick overgrowth of bushes with her katana, only to find herself standing in the clearing they were seeking. She stopped so suddenly Miroku bumped into her rather forcefully, nearly knocking them both over and Kirara actually fell to the ground in displeased mews. The taijiya's eyes were wide with shock at what she saw, and when Miroku dared to follow her horrified gaze in his curiosity, he too was at a loss for words.

Blood. It was everywhere.

All across the ground lay small toys and gadgets, torn in pieces. Smashing tops and many familiar items like it, all over the place in a gruesome mess. The overwhelming stench and heat that rose off of the ground gave all the signs the two had been dreading, and what confirmed it had Miroku gasping sheer disbelief.

The wolves, a few dozen of them present, where standing over a small body, a very familiar and bloodied bushy fox tail the only thing visible. There was no doubt who's it was.

"Shippo! No!" Having seen enough, Sango was the first to act. Hiraikotsu was raised high over her shoulder and in an instant thrown towards the wolves, the unnerving sound of the heavy weapon whipping through the air as it twisted toward its targets.

The taunting noise of the beasts' howls instantly ceased to be replaced with pained yelps as several were hit with the one stroke before making its way back towards Sango. The sound of their bones crushing and their bodies hitting nearby trees was music to her ears, even as the remaining few charged for a rebound attack.

One of the wolves leaped towards Miroku, only to receive a hard blow to its head by a fully transformed Kirara. Her crimson eyes were still a little hazed, but due to the sudden jolt she had received previously, it was enough to get most of the fog out of her head. Given time to think, Miroku decided he couldn't risk opening the wind tunnel, less he accidentally suck in the injured Shippo the few feet away he laid. What was left was his holy staff, which he wasted no time using as he joined the fray with his neko ally.

"Duck!" Sango's sharp call rang through the air as she again tossed Hiraikotsu, this time in Miroku's direction. He and Kirara barely had time to dodge, watching in dumb amazement as yet another few beasts were struck down on their sides. If they were the same strange specimen of carrion youkai the group had encountered earlier, it was unlikely Sango was killing any of the ones she hit, but they would be down long enough to take Shippo and escape.

Yet as Sango threw her weapon she was jumped by more wolves that seemed to come out of nowhere from behind her, one biting down hard on her left shoulder. She cried out from the unexpected pain, just barely fighting the urge to fall to her knees and try to cradle her new wound. She was immediately submerged in bodies of fur in the short span of three seconds.

"Sango!" Miroku hollered, jumping to his feet as Kirara ran ahead of him to help her mistress. But before either she or Miroku could do anything, they were beaten to the punch by something else. Something no one expected to interfere.

"**Kitsune-Bi**!"

In a bright display of light, a burst of blue fire erupted through the clearing in such an amount Miroku hadn't ever seen before. Instantly, all the wolves that had been biting and clawing on top of Sango caught fire and practically leapt off of her to run around madly, whaling in pain.

There young Shippo stood tall on his two feet, his eyes that strange shade of red only occasionally seen in Inuyasha, burning with the will to live. It was clear the boy was relying on his full youkai durability at the moment, but he didn't seem crazed or possessed by it at the same time. He was breathing heavily, and both fresh and dried blood covered his entire body and clothing. Sweat dripped from his brow, his little fists balled and glowing with swirling blue flames.

Another wolf came at Miroku, forcing his attention back into the fight and soon he, Kirara, and Sango were back to back. They swiped, blocked, and dodged animals from all sides, pushing some to the ground while still more kept coming at them. It seemed to be a never ending cycle, just like it had been before in the burned down village. It seemed only moments ago there had been so few, yet now it looked as if hundreds were coming at them! What was going on?

"Sango, there has to be a source to where these wolves are coming from!" Miroku called over the loud grunts and yowls of the fight.

His taijiya companion pushed off another wolf before responding. "I haven't seen one. Maybe it's off in the woods somewhere?"

Tossing a couple sutras ahead of him, Miroku agreed. "Can you and Kirara handle yourselves if I go to find it?"

"I can try! What about Shippo?"

Both glanced where they had previously seen the kitsune magic come from, but Shippo was nowhere to be seen. He couldn't have run off in the condition he had been in, could he?

Then, as if the night hadn't had enough surprises, right before the duo's eyes, the wolves just—vanished. In small flashes of light and purple smoke, they dissipated as if they had never existed. Naturally there was a paused silence along with the feeling of _'What the HELL just happened?' _Their answer came a few seconds later in the form of Shippo, now limping back into the clearing, with a freshly destroyed sutra clutched in his right hand. His breathing was even heavier than before, and he looked ready to pass out any second.

The threat now gone, Sango dropped her weapon and ran towards the brave young youkai and embraced him without really thinking about it, tears building in her eyes. "Oh Shippo! You had us so worried!" She breathed in relief. Shippo for his part was much too tired to really respond, but as both Kirara and Miroku walked to stand behind Sango, the houshi saw tears streaming down his face as he returned the hug.

Staring into the boy's now normal emerald eyes, there was a darkness to them that hadn't ever been there before. A haunted if not scarred expression. It had Miroku's mind racing, and his own eyes narrowed in concern and deep thought. If his assumption that Shippo had been first taken by Kagome was true, what exactly had happened in the time between his kidnapping and rescue? What damage had truly been done here?

Figuring he would get answers in due time, he pushed the question to the back of his mind and knelt down to Shippo's level and ruffled his dirtied auburn hair. "That was an amazing use of fox fire, Shippo. You had those wolves running with their tales between their legs." He praised with a calm smile.

Sango released him, and Shippo returned the simple smile in gratitude. "I-I'm glad I could help." He mumbled, his voice sounding raspy and sore. There was a short pause, the silence odd and uneasy before he again spoke. "Where's—Where's Inuyasha?"

The unexpected question had the two sharing an uneasy look, but after taking a moment to think of how to respond, Miroku answered. "We're not sure. We were separated some time ago."

The kitsune's face suddenly twisted in panic and he began to cry again. "You have to find him Miroku! K-Kagome—she—!"

Sango's eyes widened. "Is she after Inuyasha, Shippo?" The nod of confirmation had everyone thinking the same thing.

"Let's go find him." Miroku voiced firmly. "Now that Kirara has recovered, locating both he and Kagome should be easier."

Sango started to agree, when she thought of an obvious problem. "Miroku, we can't just take Shippo with us into battle. He's injured. We need to take him some place safe before we do anything."

"No, take me with you!" Shippo nearly yelled, despite his exhaustion. "I-I can help you fight Kagome!"

At hearing such bold and raw words from the young fox, Miroku stared wide eyed.

Sango herself put her hands on Shippo's shoulders gently. "You can't really believe that. Not only are you too young, you have some serious injuries to deal with already. You leave the fighting to us, okay?"

He remained unfazed by her logic. "I really can help! My fox magic won't really hurt Kagome, and I don't want her to do anything to Inuyasha. I want all this fighting to stop…" With that he began sob, leaping into Sango's arms for comfort.

Miroku watched the scene with both pity and guilt in his eyes. It was clear the boy had been through a great deal, more than anyone would ever know most likely. He sighed, realizing at this point there wasn't really time to make a trip all the way back to the burned village to drop off Shippo anyway. Besides, he was a full blooded youkai. His wounds were probably already beginning to heal.

"Alright Shippo, you can come." He said, earning a surprised expression from both the kitsune and the taijiya holding him.

"You can't be serious!" Sango began to protest.

"If Shippo wishes to aid us in battle, there's really nothing we can do to stop him. He's a youkai, don't forget."

Sango's expression hardened, realizing all the things Miroku just had. There was no other option at this point. She turned her eyes to Shippo, who seemed to be getting ahold of himself rather quickly now that he had been granted permission to come along. Sango sighed, exhaustion starting to build in her tense muscles. "Let's just get this over with."

"It's decided then. Kirara!" Miroku called, and in the same moment the pyro feline trotted over. What remained of the Inu-gang climbed on her back, to be lifted into the air for the first time in two hours, beginning their delayed search for Inuyasha. All that remained was the fading desire to hope everything would be alright.

**-[]-[]-[]-**

The sounds of swords clashing echoed through that same battered clearing as if it would never end. Hours, it felt like hours as the fight dragged on and on for the two. Even after suffering such heavy wounds, both internally and outwardly, it was amazing Inuyasha had fought this long. As for who he was fighting, it was a horror in and of itself.

Eyes still glazed over with that haunting shade of crimson, Kagome groaned and grunted with each blow she attempted to be the last. What she lacked in skill she made up for in brute force; shoving her miasma blade against Tetsusaiga in a flashy display of sparks and smoke, pushing both opponents back from the force. Her breathing was heavy, but the extra amount of power she had stored from her seiryoku stone kept her recovery time fast. Their battle was tightly spaced, but quick and precise in movement, a hostile dance. How would this end? After fighting for the better part of the morning, when would it be over?

"You can't kill me wench!" Inuyasha taunted while going in to toss his weight against her. He was still attempting to find flaw in her form enough to overpower the fight. Yet even after recovering himself in more ways than one, her strong will hadn't wobbled enough to push over the edge. It was exhausting having to wait.

Kagome's darkened aura flared with rage as she briefly lost her footing, screaming as she slashed at Inuyasha's demonic blade in a three strike combo, blade enflamed with miasma. As the swords clashed, the seiryoku stone's added power seemed to be getting a reaction out of Tetsusaiga. Inuyasha glanced at his weapon, eyes slightly widened in curiosity. It wasn't pulsing per say, but there was definitely something off about Tetsusaiga's energy flow. _'Is it—resisting? I can't sense its full power anymore.' _It was true the blade had a will of its own, but to lower its fighting potential? _'Is it still somehow being purified by Kagome's miko powers? Even though she's so tainted now?'_

As if things couldn't get any worse, there was a strong gust of wind overhead, and the indirect stench of Naraku. "Kagura!" Inuyasha spat, exchanging blows with Kagome once again, putting enough space between them for the girl to stop and glance above her.

"In the flesh." The demoness spoke in her usual sarcastic tone. "I'm here to warn you Kagome, the rest of your little gang are coming."

Her expression frustrated, Kagome shot to her feet and opened her mouth to scold. "You were supposed to keep them busy while I finished off this mutt!"

Inuyasha stared between them ignoring the minor insult, somewhat intrigued. _'That would sort of explain the wolves. And now the others are coming; maybe if we all fight together, I'll stand a better chance at ending this.' _

No sooner had the thought entered his mind the incoming roar of Kirara stole everyone's attention. "Inuyasha!" A familiar voice called. Inuyasha peered upward, almost doubting the voice he heard was real but knowing otherwise.

Sure enough, sitting on Sango's lap up above was Shippo, waving madly in an odd expression of joy, his small fangs seen in that large smile he only ever showed while playing. Inuyasha's eyes softened, and he found himself smirking back at the boy, relief flooding over him. _'Shippo—you're safe.'_ Though not completely he realized, the scent of blood and sweat reaching his nose as the group reached the ground and hopped off their ride. It was still better than him being dead. The group approached their long lost hanyou quickly, not bothering to say a word as they turned to read Kagome's expected reaction. Hatred.

"How the bloody hell do you people keep popping up? Why can't you understand!" She screamed.

Inuyasha moved to open his mouth in some split answer remark, but Miroku beat him to the punch. The houshi stepped forward, all the pain in his eyes since this entire had started well seen. "Because the evil that has consumed you is too warped and corrupted _to_ understand!" He shouted, gripping the wood of his staff to keep calm. "The one who is blind is YOU Kagome! You don't see that we are only trying to save you from Naraku!"

Kagome glared at him with a scoff. "Save me? Why would I need saving? Naraku has helped me see the truth about each of you!" To support her point she pulled the seiryoku stone from her pocket, its tainted purple aura displayed for them to see. "And he has given me the means to avenge myself and all that I wasted on the likes of you!" There was a surprised gasp from both Miroku and Sango, and the houshi turned to Inuyasha for an explanation.

"She's been using it for a while now." He mumbled tiredly. "It's a stone that's somehow making her miko power grow stronger."

"Yes it has!" Kagome smiled evilly back. She then pointed her miasma blade at the group she had once called her friends, and laughed. "Now you'll see you can't control me anymore!" and with that, the fight continued.

"Now Shippo!" Sango called quickly.

The young kit nodded and leapt onto Kirara, swooping down on Kagome and shouting out "**Kitsune-Bi**!" then jumping off for added force as he unleashed the power. Flames quickly surrounded Kagome with unexpected ferocity while the fox landed to the side, Sango taking this opening to toss her Hiraikotsu at the girl, knowing there was no avoiding it if they were going to win the fight.

"I don't think so. **Ryuuja no mai**!" Kagura suddenly called out with a flick of her fan, the large tornadoes causing the preexisting breeze to change direction and intensify enough to thwart the boomerang's path, sending it to the far end of the battlefield, Sango forced in the opposite direction by the attack.

"Sango!" Miroku and Shippo called out worriedly as she was tossed through the air, Kirara racing to break her fall. The taijiya landed with a sudden 'oomph!' into her companion's side before recovering enough to get a grip on her fur and pull herself up and into a sitting position atop Kirara's back.

"Thanks Kirara, now let's grab Hiraikotsu!" She ordered, leaning forward as the feline roared and went to obey orders.

Meanwhile after Kagome had burst through the magical blue flames Shippo had 'captured' her within, Inuyasha had used the opportunity to charge and shove his sword against her own with a loud battle cry, the unexpected move causing her to lose balance and stumble to the ground.

'_Could this be it?'_ The hanyou wondered briefly before going for another blow. It was quickly stopped with a reflexive clash from Kagome, holding his blade back with one arm. Her expression was pained, her arm trembling under the heavy weight and sweat racing down her brow as she groaned and her other hand began sliding against the earth. The tension lasted for all of three seconds before the seiryoku stone kicked in, glowing that sinister shade of purple and enveloping its master with more strength and power.

It rushed from her closed hand where the stone hid, to up her arm and eventually the blade. Kagome's eyes flashed, her strained grunts turned into a nearly pained yell as she slowly began pushing harder, nearly overpowering Inuyasha as she was able to force herself back to her feet.

Inuyasha stifled a snarl, his teeth clenched from the struggle before Hiraikotsu collided between the two, knocking both weapons out of their owners' hands. Inuyasha looked to take in what had just happened before glancing to his right angrily. "What the hell Sango!"

"Sorry! Missed!" She called back before racing after her weapon, Kagura at her tail, while Inuyasha in turn dove for his sword just as Kagome recovered hers.

Before he could grab it, a large cloud of miasma shot in his direction and he was forced to backflip several feet to avoid it. He'd taken a second too long in scolding Sango, and was now at a disadvantage. _'Just fucking great!'_ the hanyou screamed within his thoughts. His nose twitched at the nearly overwhelming stench of poisonous smoke, another cloud of it cast in his direction. It came on so abruptly he wasn't sure he'd dodge fast enough but somehow his instincts kicked in and jerked his body mindlessly aside, the cloud exploding against the nearby wall of trees, eating them away upon contact. _'Damn that was close!'_ He had to get Tetsusaiga back.

Both Miroku and Shippo were now watching the two separate battles in both panic and frustration, unsure how to help them. Miroku himself had already contemplated using his Kazaana, but had a sneaking suspicion Kagura had Naraku's saimyosho hidden somewhere. It was always the case. Aside from that all he had were his sutras and holy staff. In order to use them he'd have to jump right in the middle of one of the two fights, and he was making up his mind on which one. He looked to Shippo, finally reaching a decision.

"Shippo, why don't you try and assist Inuyasha with Kagome again while I attempt to do the same with Sango? If we can take out Kagura it will improve our odds of overpowering Kagome."

The young Kitsune nodded without question and darted off towards the battling hanyou and tainted miko while Miroku looked towards the other side of the battered clearing. He took an exhausted breath. _'Here goes everything.' _

_**~(+)~**_

**A/N:** Sorry to cut it off kind of randomly, but I didn't want to exceed my usual chapter word limit and a lot happens in the next battle section and I wanted 'room' to work with. Shippo got quite a nice main role in this chapter too, so I hope that made some people happy LOL. I promise to update regular again this month. I'm hoping to get the second half out within the month as well, since I am taking a break from my other story Ashes until March. Thanks guys for being so patient with me .


	17. Vengeance Part 2

**A/N: **Yeah let's just—yeah I'm updating again. *ahem* Uhm, just so you all know this chapter might not be the best as it's been so long since I've touched this story and, well, I guess I was just inpatient to see the plot move on. I apologize for waiting so long only to give you this. Probably the shortest chapter ever D:

_**~(+)~**_

Chapter 16: Vengeance Part 2

He could feel the hot breath puffing in front of his face as he sped through the forest undergrowth. His cheeks flushed in the rising sunlight, his long jet black ponytail whipping behind him as his chilled blue eyes remained trained on the road ahead, glaring through the whirlwind in his steps into the distance.

Some length behind him, crazed howling echoed in the distance, admittedly sending chills down Kouga's spine. These were not of his kind. They were entirely mindless and feral, with no other instinct than to kill. Communication with them had been pointless.

Not for the first time he irritably wondered how he'd gotten himself in this situation to begin with.

Jumping swiftly over a fallen tree trunk and nearly stumbling, he grit his teeth. _'All I did was scent Kagome in the air, and the second I get close these bastards showed up out of nowhere ta kill me!'_ He scowled. _'Somethin' fishy is going on here and I don't like it one bit.' _

The fact his woman could be in danger was enough to boil his blood and Kouga let out a furious snarl in his impatience. He wasn't one to run from a fight, but those youkai monstrosities were too great to handle alone if he wanted to keep on Kagome's already fading scent trail and find her in time.

Then a clearing reached his vision, a wrecked human village from the looks of it. The undoubtable stench of death, dried blood and ash rushed up his nostrils in a stunningly powerful wave when he crossed the forest undergrowth border in the millisecond after.

Kouga resisted the urge to cover his nose, opting instead to take a quick glance behind him to see how close to catching up his many pursuers were. Fairly near, if they're loud barks and yowls were anything to go by. _'Damn, I'll have to fight them off here if I'm going to find any time to focus on Kagome. Mutt face better be taking care of her!'_

Kouga finally whipped around to face the band of canines as they leapt from the forest thicket, flashing his own beastly fangs in a display of dominance. The beasts hesitated, settling for encircling the youkai in their midst, stalking around him ominously, carefully—sizing him up almost.

Still baring his fangs, Kouga kept focused on each one that came into attack range, every inch of him tense and coiled to the point his muscles twitched ever so slightly and his tail twitched with anticipation. He would be ready to strike the second they made a move. He wanted so badly to, but instinct stilled him. He watched as they circled for the third time, until finally, they stopped, and in that heartbeat of pause Kouga shifted his footing for a launch maneuver. _'Bring it on, fuckers!'_

And so it began.

Waves of blue-ish fur toppled on top of the okami leader, only to be kicked off from a strong shikon powered right leg. Dozens flew out of the pile as unbearably loud animal noises came out. Until finally Kouga broke through the top, a wolf hanging off his right arm, biting into skin. He punched it on the head with his other fist and tore him off, blood spattering everywhere.

Catching the scent of it the wolves only got more excited and aggressive, only causing Kouga's adrenaline to rise. The pack grew thinner and thinner with each few he clawed, bit, and broke through until only the alpha among them remained. It was a significantly bigger specimen than the others. Its fangs larger and longer glistening with saliva, lip curled back, and claws on full display as it dug into the ash and dirt. Kouga just smirked, feeling more alive than he had in months.

With a loud battle cry he raised his bloodied claws and charged, leaping into the air and bringing down the beast in one swift stroke at the neck. He was just too fast to beat one on one.

As it went down, Kouga turned to study the damage. He felt the subtle sting and odd warmth of the blood that oozed from his wounds in several places, but nothing worth worrying about.

In that moment, a certain bunch of smells reached his nose. It was dull and barely noticeable over the thick layers of other stenches, but they were there. _'Those friends Kagome tags along with, and dog breath. They were definitely here, and not too long ago!'_

He turned in the direction they led, only to realize after some walking they all rose into the sky, a certain feline smell along with them, except for two. _'Kagome's, and that little Kitsune kit she carries around—maybe they got separated, running from all these wolves?' _Now he was even more determined to find her. If that so called protector of hers wasn't even there to keep her safe, who knew what harm was befalling her!

"Hang on Kagome, I'm coming!"

**-[]-[]-[]-**

Shippo glanced over his shoulder as Miroku and Sango, atop Kirara, began their airstrike on Kagura._ 'I hope they'll be okay.' _He prayed as the three rose higher into the air, only to turn and see Inuyasha and Kagome going at it worse than his young eyes had ever seen.

A cowardly part of him felt a little overwhelmed, almost as if he should just let everything take its course without him. He was tired and had been through more than enough, even for a youkai. He was just a kid after all. But the kit shook his head and balled his little fists to block out such burdening thoughts. _'They need my help! I can't turn my back on them now!' _So with a final nod, Shippo jumped into the fray with a large display of fox fire the second he had an opening.

It proved plenty affective.

The two were forced to back away from the unexpected attack, allowing Inuyasha time to roll over and grab the Tetsusaiga that had been knocked out of his grasp a while before. The hanyou glanced at the kit from the corner of his eye with a proud smirk as thanks. Proud of himself, the kit fist pumped with an excited 'Yes!' under his breath.

The moment was short lived though, as this had all grabbed Kagome's attention.

Whipping her head around from the flip she had done to dodge, the dark miko made direct eye contact with Shippo, pure malice in her eyes. "You little brat!" She hissed, charging for him.

Recent trauma flashed through Shippo's mind and froze his movements, suddenly terrified. _'T-the blood! No!'_ dropping to his knees the boy screamed as he braced for a death dealing blow, arms over his head—but it never came.

Feeling an intense presence hanging over him, Shippo peeked an eye open to see Inuyasha holding Kagome back with his sword, groaning loudly and body noticeably shaking. "G-Get—**move**!" he ordered brokenly behind him.

Shippo immediately understood and ran to the side, getting ahold of himself in the process. It was fast enough to the point he cast another cloud of flames at Kagome, a cloud that was strong enough to burn her side and under arm. A sudden anger came over the boy upon that one release of power, his brows furrowed and oddly focused as they briefly flashed red. His fists were ignited with more fox fire. "Leave Inuyasha **alone**!" He yelled, tossing more of the blue flames.

Kagome actually cried out at this, falling to the ground as the attack engulfed her with each blow that followed. One after the other. More and more. It was both extremely impressive, and mortifying.

Inuyasha saw what was happening, and in panic stood between them. "Shippo, enough!" He said, thrusting out his sword to help block the remaining flames. As Kagome was momentarily stunned, he managed to make eye contact himself with the kit, and with a concerned furrow of his brows said, "I've got this, don't you worry."

Shippo just looked at him with shallow breaths, a lost reflection in his eyes. "Stop…" He whimpered. "I want it all to **stop**!" and just like that he was sobbing like the child he couldn't help that he was.

Just as Inuyasha was about to move forward to do—something, Kagome's strangled voice stopped him. "Oh look at that, the baby's crying. Such a shame to see his adoptive family fighting isn't it? Bringing back bad memories of what I did to you?" She cooed mockingly from her place on the ground.

Inuyasha glared at her, so much rage and frustration rising out of him he couldn't contain it. All of the pain, and the suffering, he'd had to endure today was driving him damn near his breaking point. He thought of the woman he loved—the sweet, caring, and undyingly loyal woman he knew who had stuck by him through the impossible—and in that moment realized she was all but gone. All that was left was her body, manipulated and broken down into nothing more than another one of Naraku's puppets.

It.

Was.

_Enough_.

With a shaking grip on Tetsusaiga, swirls of demonic energy began building around the blade. His heavy breathes came out in short tremors, and tears suddenly began rushing, _pouring_ down his cheeks as he even then fought against what his everything was screaming at him to do.

It wasn't until a strange foreign voice deep down inside him spoke, did he break. **"It's alright koi. Let go."**

So with the swift raise of his arms as he took his weapon in both hands, he whispered the one thing he had left to say. "I'm sorry…"

From the air, as Kagura dodged another one of Sango's pointless attacks with her boomerang, she turned and sensed more than saw what was coming. Eyes wide as saucers she dove in towards the dark miko, knowing even with a magic stone in her hand she hadn't the reflexes to block this attack.

Just as Kagome was reaching for her stone, and Kagura came into range to grab her, Inuyasha's wrangled cry rang through the forest like nothing anyone had ever heard.

"_**KAZE NO KIZUU**_!"


	18. Stitching

**A/N: **Weren't expecting this now were ya? Heh, what can I say, I'm on a roll. In case some things don't make sense for this one I can tell you there's some reference to the chapters entitled 'Breaking the Curse Part 2' and 'Aftermath', so if you think you'll need some reminders for the plot to understand what's happening, skim through those.

_**~(+)~**_

=Chapter 17: Stitching=

Kikyou stopped her strides, feeling two overwhelmingly strong auras wash over her. Her hand flew to her chest as she turned in the direction they had come from, tremors following underfoot like the aftermath of some sort of explosion. Even her shinidamachu could sense it, their smooth and routine encirclement around her breaking, their heads turning as well. She peered through the horizon in wonder.

Her connection to Kagome's soul had just somehow become drastically weakened, the warmth that resided within it cooling ever so slightly. "Something terrible has happened." The miko spoke aloud, a sternness hardening her features. Previously when she had detected her reincarnation while tracking Kagura, she had chosen to leave it up to the girl's friends and Inuyasha to deal with, but now, she was certain her involvement could mean the life or death of not one, but two very precious lives.

Kikyou turned to her shinidamachu with urgency. _'I must go to them immediately!' _and with that they coiled tightly around her and lifted the undead woman into the air and towards the disaster ridden forest beyond.

On the scene, it was exactly as she had predicted without even having to be present.

Miroku and Sango had barely been far enough to avoid that deadly Wind Scar, yet they hadn't escaped the feeling of terror it had carried. Their eyes were impossibly wide, mouths slacked open, and hearts pounding with fear and sheer awe.

It took several long, tense moments for the smoke and debris to clear enough to see anything, but when they did—it was heartbreaking.

There was a long, wide, deeply entrenched trail of destruction in the form of claw marks down the middle of the battlefield. They reached to even the miasma marred trees at the borders of the clearing, leaving everything in that direction completely ruined. And hunched over Kagome's lifeless body sat Inuyasha, holding her up by her shoulders, weeping as quietly as he could manage into her marred front, both of them covered in each other's blood—Tetsusaiga all but abandoned to the side. The two looked so broken, laying there in such an immense sorrow that had never been so openly witnessed before.

Kagura remained unconscious several feet away from them, her body plenty destroyed itself, having taken the brunt of the attack. Yet she would live, due to her lack of a heart. Her wounds were already beginning to repair themselves, the spider shaped scar down her back becoming whole again under the torn cloth of her kimono.

As for Shippo, he too lay unconscious, though having only been thrown back by the massive earthquake that had resulted. Wounds from his previous battles had however reopened, blood seeping through his clothes.

Nothing had looked this disastrous in a very long time.

Slowly, Sango set Kirara drifting down to the ground, shaky and unsure. It was a long while before she and Miroku had even the courage to move, let alone stand on their own two feet. Scanning the scene over and over again, she finally forced herself to speak. The pain was well heard in her voice. "Are they—? Did he—?"

The houshi snapped to attention at the half questions. He turned to look at Sango, watching the tears stream down her pale face as she raised a trembling hand to cover her mouth. She was mortified. The deep concern crept over his face as he answered. "I sense that Shippo and Kagura are alive." It was all he could offer her.

"And Kagome?"

Miroku sighed through his nose and turned away, unable to bear the answer himself. He didn't need to say it. Especially based on the shameless way their hanyou comrade was grieving over her body—they all knew Kagome was dead. Powerful and mad as she had become, she was still human, and no human could have survived that.

Sango finally released a chocked sob, her tears pouring down like waterfalls. "O-oh—oh Miroku!" She wailed, rushing into his arms and breaking down.

He embraced her fully and tightly, closing his eyes with an intense expression of his own, breathing in long and slow to keep himself together. He could feel tears well up in his own eyes, but he squinted them away before they could fall. He had to be strong, for everyone. _'Oh Kagome—may your soul, wherever it lies, be at peace. Please—have that much.' _Kirara stepped near and folded her large head and twin tails around them with a saddened purr, sensing enough emotion to know they needed comfort.

It was then the groans of shinidamachu approached, Kikyou of course among them. Miroku and Kirara turned to witness her decent with dull curiosity.

Landing on her feet, the miko took her time observing the scene for herself. She showed a surprising amount of shock given her history. Though she seemed fairly certain of something whatever the case was.

Finally she seemed to notice the houshi staring oddly at her. She strode over to him, getting his grieving woman's attention as well.

"Kikyou?" She said without thinking, expressing her own confusion.

"I must speak to Inuyasha in regards to Kagome's life." She said plainly, glancing over at the hanyou some ways away from them.

Even hearing 'Kagome' and 'life' in the same sentence was difficult to hear, but Miroku knew she meant well. However, he also knew Inuyasha was in no mood for a pointless conversation with Kikyou of all people, as far as irony was concerned. "You're too late." He attempted to explain solemnly. "She's already—"

"Untrue." Kikyou interrupted with determination, the gleam in her eyes enough to silence him. "Have you forgotten what I told you before? A piece of my reincarnation's being is now linked with the Shikon no tama itself. She has not yet perished. In this state, it is actually near impossible for her to completely die."

This huge realization had both houshi and taijiya staring in complete disbelief, almost gaping at the woman. Something in them both sparked to life as they slowly processed what this meant. _'Kagome can still be saved? Its—not over? How is that possible?'_ Sango thought to herself tiredly.

"However," Kikyou added. "This in itself does not guarantee anything. The jewel only holds her life energy, her spiritual powers. If we are to restore Kagome to her true conscious being, we need to locate what remains of her soul as well."

Sango finally released her hold on Miroku and fully faced the undead miko. "But, where else could her soul be than within her body? What could possibly be left after all this?"

Realizing that particular explanation could take far longer to explain, Kikyou simply shook her head. "We can speak about this later. I must go to those two now." She said, looking back over at Inuyasha.

Miroku moved to block her line of sight. "With all due respect, he's in no mental state to hear much of anything from—" he was promptly ignored, Kikyou strolling past him without hesitation.

"Do not interfere houshi, you must trust that I know what I'm doing."

Watching her approach Inuyasha was a surprisingly slow process, and all Miroku and Sango could do was watch, hope, and maybe even pray he wouldn't do anything too crazy.

**-[]-[]-[]-**

He'd been kneeling there in the dirt on his knees for a seemingly unmeasured amount of time. The body that once belonged to the love of his life, Kagome, was dead in his arms. With every passing moment Inuyasha could feel her warmth fading, her scent already warping into the stench death brought. Her blood was also quite literally on his hands, and pretty much everywhere else her open wounds had touched him—the bittersweet smell hitting his senses like a silent slap in the face.

He deserved it, Inuyasha told himself bitterly. He had no honor left, no dignity. Not only was he a monster, a murderer, he was a traitor. A traitor to the one person he had held closest to his heart. Once upon a time he had sworn he would protect Kagome with everything he had, and now even that no longer held any weight. As the tears seemed to mar and burn into his skin, a new regret would surface along with them.

Why hadn't he realized his feelings for Kagome sooner?

Why wasn't he strong enough to fight through this?

Why had he given up?

Why hadn't he been able to stop Naraku from doing this to her?

'_I'm weak, Kagome. I'm so weak.'_ He snarled, cursing himself, cradling her body so close to him he could feel his lone heartbeat thud against her skin. _'I'm just a lowly half-breed. You never believed me but it's true! I couldn't—I didn't—It's all my—!'_

"Inuyasha."

That voice. Was it—?

"Kagome?" He whipped his head around in some warped type of hope only to see Kikyou standing there, looking down on him with what he interpreted as disgrace. He tried to hide the strange disappointment as she drew closer to him, looking thoughtfully between him and her deceased reincarnation. Her stare felt so piercing and intimidating, Inuyasha hadn't even the nerve left to meet her eyes and he let his bangs shadow his face as he turned away. Subconsciously he braced himself for whatever reprimand she could possibly assault him with. Losing Kagome affected her too after all. It made their mission of defeating Naraku nearly impossible. He had failed there too.

However, to the hanyou's shock and disbelief, Kikyou stooped down to his level on the ground and took the tip of his chin in her hand so that she was looking right at him. "Inuyasha." She tried again, speaking so softly it were as if she were consoling a young child. When he still didn't respond, still focusing down at the ground, she pressed him further. "Inuyasha, please look at me."

It wasn't working. He simply refused.

With a small sigh, Kikyou rested a hand on Kagome's head, realizing she would have to show the hanyou what she was trying to say before they could make progress. Words never did much for him in deep situations such as these she supposed.

With that a small pinkish glow resonated from Kagome's body at the gentle touch, but an even brighter rim of light began shining from Inuyasha himself.

It took a moment, but when he realized what was happening he looked at Kikyou angrily. "Don't take her away from me!" He growled, shoving her away with a rough swipe of his hand. "Let her move on in piece! You owe her that much!" His voice rose until he was screaming, trembling, with fear in his eyes.

At first confused as to why he was protesting exactly, Kikyou pulled back her hand. Then she realized Inuyasha had misinterpreted her gesture as attempts to take Kagome's soul (that he assumed still resided in her body) for herself, in order to keep walking the earth.

"Fool." She told him firmly, actually sounding offended. "Have you so little faith left in me?" Kikyou's words were blunt enough it shocked him. The pure guilt and agony that shone in his eyes was almost too much to watch.

Given his raw emotional state Kikyou forced herself to remain calm. She tried again to move her hand after assuring the hanyou she truly meant no harm. Again she pleaded, "Please Inuyasha. You must trust me with her."

There was a very long hesitancy on his part, but eventually, Inuyasha's shoulders slumped and he nodded his consent for Kikyou to resume her previous actions. But not without a humble request of, "Keep her safe." He was again referring to Kagome's soul.

Kikyou eyed him with a certain admiration and perhaps even longing, before she too nodded her consent—and then placed both her hands out to touch Inuyasha and Kagome's foreheads. The pink glow returned, and suddenly Inuyasha slumped forward in unconsciousness.

Seeing this from their nearby positions behind the three, Miroku and Sango ran forwards to help hold their friend up. "What are you doing?" Sango demanded, arms half wrapped around the hanyou on his left side.

Kikyou remained perfectly calm, her fingertips still in place, the two she touched now enveloped in the purifying light. "I am returning enough of Kagome's essence that resides within Inuyasha at present to restore some semblance of life to her body, yet not enough to wake her."

"Resides within Inuyasha? What?" Miroku then blurted out. "How is that even possible?"

Kikyou again released a tired sigh. She would be here for some time anyhow. "I suppose now there is time to explain myself."

**-[]-[]-[]-**

A pulse.

It was a warm sensation, from a heartbeat full of life, energy, and power. It held a strange influence over the emptiness here, yet a direct confliction between pushing and pulling the fabric of this place and its existence apart.

Where ever 'this' was.

Inuyasha's consciousness floated from light to darkness with each sound of the unnamed pulse like an inward flash, or a nagging in the back of his mind to both accept and also resist the urge to awaken. He was everywhere and nowhere, he was alive and dead, he was alone yet at the same time in the presence of another.

_Inuyasha?_

His eyelids twitched.

_Inuyasha, please. _

A small moan.

_Please answer me…_

The hanyou's eyes opened slowly with a pained sound of discomfort, his sight responding slowly to the constant shifting of color in this strange depth, this abyss his mind continued floating in. Then he was as awake as he was ever going to get.

"Wha?" He mumbled sleepily, turning his head to the left and right to consciously try to take in his surroundings. Inuyasha immediately flinched at what else he saw in the distant emptiness.

A face.

"Kagome?" He heard himself mumble without thinking.

There she was, standing (or floating, technically) in front of him with that same charming smile he'd come to know so well. She wore clothing from her world, but it wasn't her usual green and white garb with the short skirt. It looked more like a dress, ending just above her knees with thin strings holding it up on her shoulders. She didn't have shoes on, which Inuyasha momentarily thought was odd, but then again what use would they be here? This led to his next rather obvious question.

"Where am I?"

The miko didn't reply at first, deciding instead to make her way over to him until she was practically sharing his air, her rich brown eyes stunningly clear and—happy? It took Inuyasha a moment to realize Kagome was giggling, smiling from ear to ear in her apparent joy.

But as he opened his mouth to demand what the hell she found so funny, she embraced him.

Face flushing and going rather slack jawed in his utter speechlessness; Inuyasha could only wrap his arms lightly around her small waist in silence, wondering why it almost ached to have her so close.

He found himself savoring the moment to the best of his ability. Her touch—it felt so _warm_, soothing—and her scent—sweet caramel. How he had missed it. Again for an unknown reason, that misplaced feeling of eternity crept up on him.

"I've been waiting here for you, my Inuyasha."

Kagome's bold statement had the hanyou pulling the girl out of the hug so he could look her in the eyes again, but still found the ability to speak awkwardly lacking. '_MY Inuyasha?' _He stupidly echoed in his thoughts, not knowing how to feel about what such a thing could imply, what he could only assume it did.

Somehow aware of his surprise, Kagome only giggled sweetly, a blush dusting her already rosy cheeks. "Yes koi, here, we can be together. Just you and me, without a care in the world."

It was at this point the small build-up of warmth from their embrace completely faded. The way she spoke, the word _koi_—something about this suddenly felt very out of place. Growing concerned, Inuyasha found his voice. "Kagome, tell me where we are. I need to know. What's going on?"

The pure way in which Kagome carried herself darkened a little as she turned away from him abruptly. Floating a few feet away, Inuyasha could hear her silent whimpers, scenting her tears. "You mean you—don't want to be with me? Ever?"

Eyes wide, the hanyou somehow moved closer and grabbed Kagome by the shoulders frantically. "N-No, I just—"

"Just what? You're too busy to spend time with me? Too caught up in your missions, and Kikyou, to care about me? Huh? Is that it?" She rambled, becoming angry.

Taken back by these crazed accusations Inuyasha opened his mouth to justify himself, only to notice how everything around them was beginning to change and shift. The seemingly neutral energy from before felt considerably darker, thicker, and more tainted. He felt weak again, tired.

Yet Kagome still floated there, completely unfazed as she continued yelling and scolding him about nothing and everything, crying bitterly at him. "You don't love me! You never loved me! How could you? You betrayed me! Acted like I was only second best all these months! I'm just your stupid shard detector!"

And with that final shout the growing darkness came to a head, and Kagome herself shifted into a hauntingly familiar form, a fully tainted one—her eyes screened over with crimson. That thick purple fog of miasma encircling her.

It was then Inuyasha remembered the epic battle he and the others had fought, the things he'd said, the things Kagome had said—and her death.

And just like that, Inuyasha knew what was happening. He'd been here before.

_**~(+)~**_

**A/N: **I'm a bit concerned I wandered out of Kikyou's usual persona in all this, so I apologize if it threw anyone off. As for Kagome, she's definitely supposed to be acting all petty and stuff, don't worry. Meet you all back here soon I hope.

And thank you SO much for sticking with me and being so unbelievably patient. Love you all!


End file.
